Secret agents like
Maxwell Smart and Agent 99
sometimes do reconnaissance in Hawaii
for CONTROL, a counter-intelligence agency based in Washington, D.C.
created to thwart the evil KAOS
and to release the constant pressure
of trying to save the planet.
Today’s mission
should we choose to accept it
will be to empty the puddles.
It will take all day since it is still raining.
Max has donned a special pair of
cell phone galoshes in case he gets in over his head.
Brisk trade winds press against me
as I step out into the chill sixty degree air.
I am assigned to assist him
and am disguised in a striped green trench coat
yellow swim cap and khaki galoshes.
Max and I are intent on the goal
as we both jump into the first puddle.
Slosh, twerk, and slosh,
Slosh, twerk, and slosh.
Katoosh, I slide on my tushie into a red-orange bromeliad
my rubber galoshes now sailing into the stratosphere.
The chief watches from above
nods his head and remarks
no one said it would be easy Agent 99
as Max nose-dives into a potted dendrobium.
And so it goes.
Suck up and retreat
Suck up and retreat
until the chief tells us to dry off
persuading Max to drag his weary
secret agent butt inside
marching us both up to a bubbling hot tub
where we can take a breather and spy on the neighbor’s cats.
Corney Press 