Gilligan Now

 Gilligan is in the forest

And there’s a fire

On the beach

The Professor hides

Under a pile

Of smoldering coconuts

Attempting to fashion

The smoke

Coming out of the pile

Into signals

For ships passing by

Ships pass by all the time

Some land

And passengers get out

And find the castaways

Befriend them

And then leave again

And rescue never arrives

How could so many people

See those in need

And simply sail away?

Mary Ann has left

Marks on all the trees

Indicating that she’s still

Somewhere

In the island caves

Awaiting the end

Of Gilligan’s reign

But the Professor knows

That Mary Ann

Will stay lost forever

Unless someone

Goes looking for her

And only a fool would try

The Howells set sail

On the body of a boar

They had speared

Days or weeks ago

The sundial the Professor made

Has stopped working

The way it should

Or maybe the sun has stopped

Working

The way

It should

Hard to tell

The boar will not get them anywhere

And if anything

It will attract sharks

But the Howells had gone mad

Long before anyone else

And they were willing

To try the absurd

To accomplish

The impossible

The Professor saw Ginger

Leap from the island’s

Tallest cliff

And while that doesn’t mean

She’s dead

It does mean

That she’d be desiring death

And once that happens

There’s no connection anymore

To anything

That desires

To live

Skipper went off

To reason with Gilligan

Against the advice

Of pretty much everyone

He was sure

There was still

Some Gilligan

Left inside that maniacal frame

That lanky form

That gangly physique

The eyes that had lost

Their sight

For anything

But power

Might have looked kind

If kindness is something

You need to see

More than you need

To ensure

Your own safety

But the Professor

Knew what was what

When he saw Gilligan

Peering back at the castaways

On the beach

His face covered

In what looked like excrement

But may have just been simple dirt

He knew that Gilligan

Was no longer interested

In being rescued

And so

Having forgone

The plot

He would now be focused

On the characters

And the ideas

Many of which

Were too flimsy

To sustain themselves

Against a force

As powerful

As madness

The Professor tries to remember

What the smoke signals are

For distress

He tries

But a tune is stuck in his head

About a tale

And a ship

And who people were

And who they never thought

They’d ever

Be