Worms
By G David Schwartz
I am not sure what a worm hole is, in the computers and sci-fi magazines, so I am not going to speak about them. Frequently, however, I talk about what I do not know, so here we go. (Nice poem?)
Worms, as everybody knows, has little other purpose than frightening my sister. She thinks of worms, those short slimy pieces of non-human existence, as if they were saber-toothed tigers. Worms, those little things which when cut in half have both halves continually crawling, are slimy perhaps and uneatable perhaps (especially to vegetarians), but they are fun to play with if you are a very lonely boy, or girl. And your father has locked his Playboy magazines away.
Worms do not read Playboy. Neither do I, but that does not mean that I am a worm.
Worms also do not play football, or any other sport. They neither write nor read books, nor sci-fi magazines which speak about them.
Worms also do not write.
Since they do not watch television, not even the news, they do not buy television or anything else which could help the economy. And why should they?
Worms are not political, not educated nor education-able, not anything, nothing at all, not a thing except…
Worms are food for the birds and any other animal, including humans, who have soft teeth or no teeth.
Worms! No wonder little children chew them.
G David Schwartz is the former president of Seedhouse, the online interfaith forum. Schwartz is the author of A Jewish Appraisal of Dialogue (1994) and Midrash and Working Out Of The Book (2004). Currently a volunteer with the Cincinnati J Meals On Wheels, Schwartz continues writing. His most recent book is Shards And Verse (2011).
