Oracle Pool Paul is dedicated to Paul the Octopus (now deceased) who had a predilection toward predicting the winners in some of the games in the soccer world cup held in South Africa in 2010. Paul, for his forecasting skills, earned stripes from a few countries and incurred the wrath of another few, acquiring fame in the process. The late octopus, one has to note, took to forecasting how a duck takes to water, so much so that all his predictions came true.
We hope a Clean
Bill of Health is
Coming your way.
Oracle Pool Paul
Has a few looking
Stony and feeling
Cut up and has many
Looking blissful and
Feeling pleased as
Punch.
“They make many glow
And feel forgetful.
Do our world beaters
And Oracle Pool Paul,”
the many Spanish say.
He glanced the other way
When he had to pick out
‘Cause he too reckoned
Some had to prevail
Over the others.
All but One
Earned a solitary
Nod of approval
From his myriad tentacles.
White and Black
Looked for answers
When it came to
Getting it right.
They were within
Striking distance
Winner’s crown
On their heads.
Orange saw red
And were caught off guard
Although they came
Within an inch
Of raising the
Bar to which
Joy was attached.
Oracle Pool Paul
Made Killjoys of
The Losing Hopefuls
And struck a chord
With the Bloody Minded
Spanish.
A clean bill
Of health beckons
Paul although
The enraged few
Are intent on
Turning Paul into
Eight legged soup.
Some of What he Says
Isn’t a sum of What he Thinks.
All that he forecast
Checked out.
Well he’s for Real.
About the Author
Indrajit Dutta is a writer. His poem Oracle Pool Paul has also been published by Forward Poetry, a branch of Bonacia Ltd, an English firm. He blogs at indrohippie.blogspot.com
