Did You Ever Wonder

Did you ever wonder
Where H. G. Wells, Sir Conan Doyle,
Margaret Mitchell and Clarence B. Kelland
Got their stuff?
I have
And now I know.

Psychology told me
They transport themselves to another world.
This explains where H. G. Wells got his ideas
Tf the world of the future.
He went there and saw it and came back
And told us.
Simple, huh?

And yet it isn't.
We know personally and intimately
Folks who have transported themselves to
These wonderful new worlds
On a one way Pullman ticket
But who don't have guts enough
To hitchhike their way back.
They are called "neurotics"

And end up in a mental hospital
Or suicide.
Because they went away
And couldn't get back.

We also know of folks who went away
And couldn't get back
They still haven't returned
And will probably die that way.
Nobody calls them anything
Because they don't cause a stir.
They, like the neurotics,
Have taken a one way ticket
To Pleasant Place
To avoid tremendous problems of
Livelihood
Sex
And social contacts

Now the Maker
Probably figured on producing a certain set
Who would retreat from these challenges
Into a super-fantastic land
Of his own making
So that there might be books, pictures, music
And statues.

It is our opinion
That He figured on a round trip ticket
But Adam forfeited his rightful power
For a measly old apple
Which probably had a worm in it
And as a result of the loss of this capacity
Fully seventy-nine percent of those
Who make the trip into the land
From which the "best sellers" are drawn
Don't have what it takes to come back
They are the people we call neurotic
Because they are nervous
And have to drink Ovaltine
In order to get to sleep
They "take themselves too seriously"
And are conscientious
They, in short, are defeatists.
Because they feel unable to stand up
To the terrors of
Livelihood
Sex
And social contacts.

People, Like Most Automobiles

People, like most automobiles
Come in four speeds
High, low and in-between
Then, of course, the reverse
Which fill our asylums and bread lines.

Most occupy the "second" or in-between position
They are the steady, hardworking class
The solidifying element
You will find them
Exercising mental and physical capacities
On assembly lines, behind counters and desks
And digging into mechanical units.

The "low speed" type is interspersed
With the "seconds" as helpers and common laborers
They have their function
and their physical capacities
Could not be successfully dispensed with.

Such men as Willkie, Churchill, Roosevelt and Hitler
Not to mention scores of artists, writers, musicians
And other assorted famous men
Occupy high gear position
These are the "gifted"
According to popular opinion
But the truth of the matter is
They are gifted only
As the fish are gifted to swim
And the robin to fly
Their highly geared position
Demands every bit of extra power
They can muster
And if they can't produce it
They will slip past second and low
Into reverse. Hitler did.

All creation, like your Ford
Was started in low gear
Men lived in caves
And dragged their wives
By the hair of the head
Gradually as knowledge grew, speed was built up
And soon second gear took over the load
More and more speed, into
Pff / Something happened
Nero fiddled and Rome burned.
And the reverse gear dominated.

After much backward driving
Man finally got into low and started forward
And in twenty-ten are tearing along in high
With a heavier load and more rapid pace
Many gear wheel teeth have snapped off
and others are showing the terrific strain
Thrown upon them by the failure of others.