"The Grinning" by fiona Leitner

music: Aeternal by Clint Mansell Aeternal by Clint Mansell

(please open music link in another tab to listen as you read)

“See Frog Run”
for the artist  Fiona Leitner

The frog ran away from the insanity.
He clenched his hands tight as he leaped over
wheat-fields and  freeways,
like a dog running off with a leg of lamb.
We are what we eat ,
so he grew lamb-shanks for limbs,
which really was not so surprising…
Ahh, but that he made his escape from calamity,
was in the end what did surprise him.

Someone with no humor set him on fire
but the flames did become him
and melted to mold him
Now he was a gold medal Olympic runner,
an ultra- marathon stunner
a broadband broad- jumper.
the frog who changed his destiny .
He threw off those tired horses in midstream
then turned a nightmare into a dream,
agile, and fleet in grace and  esteem
because everyone who knew him rejoiced he got away.

There were flares and night terrors and blood soaked mud layers
he leaped lakes, full of poisonous snakes
he never stopped running and still is to this date
tears trickle down the cheeks of his face
just remembering…just remembering…
the wind fanning so many burning memories.

The frog made a leap back to life and he knew
he could never stop running jet -propelled now
streaking high in the air like a burning comet he flew
over cities and patchworks of farmlands,
the wind whistling deep in his ears.
His body changing from raw meat into particles
he flew over  the earth he once hopped.
Was he still really a frog after so many changes
after a lifetime of fleeing with no stop?

His mutton legged nightcap whipping him on
The rain clouds grew comforting, as he was reborn
Like Lola he ran through the eye of the storm
a dark ember remained glowing inside him.
No hurdle too high now, no pain was too raw,
no crazy thought  path was left  to experiment
He sailed over and out of the comfort of atmosphere
He went to the void and reached towards the stars
He needed no gulp- breaths, no frog pond, no love- mate
spiraling, he ran in circles going faster and faster.
Is he now that red star that circles the heavens?
Is he the meteorite we watch fall on horizons?
Did he expand into his own  fiery galaxy?
Really It doesn’t matter at all.
What will stay in the history books of future days
will only be that
everyone who knew this frog from before
all rejoiced that he got away.

Karima Hoisan
Dec. 29,2010
Virtual Art Gallery LINC Island SL