I wrote a poem about a homebody named Gus who rejects everybody in his life. His most prized possession is his off-white Barker lounger with the black patch on it from being worn away. As a fan of The Twilight Zone, I wanted a chance to try my hand at something similar for myself, so I came up with the idea for this short darkly comedic cautionary tale about sloth and idleness called “Gus and the Recliner”.
Logline: Homebody Gus meets a grizzly end when his favourite recliner finally snaps.
“Gus and the Recliner”
Kat King
There once lived a fella named Gus
A man very much like all of us
Except for he lived all alone
His wife had long passed
The months and years zipped by quite fast
All Gus ever did was stay home
He had just one favorite thing
He loved to repose and to sing
In an off-white recliner,
which was “most certainly designer!”
Or so old Gussy supposed
I warn you dear brother
Tis a tale like no other
A tale of cautions and woes
One day it would be
They find dear dead Gussy
Sandwiched inside of his there famed seat
With the summertime sun
And the Augustine heat
You can imagine a smell not of rose
For he there was in his recliner
in less than designer circumstance
Dead Dead Dead
And not by sheer happenstance
Oh gussie oh gussie
He was never so fussy
About that which he ever did
A man about home
Forever alone
And not by just sheer circumstance
Katharyn R. King 