Jane Blanchard: Some Bird
At dawn, a towhee sings insistently,
“Drink your tea.”
By noon, its call has fallen off to be,
“Drink tea.”
Soon after, that is down to this, I think:
“Drink.”
(First published in The Lyric)
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Tony Peyser: What The Man In The Hospital Hallway Said
Right beside the bank of elevators for the ICU
Every branch of a tall family tree was in view.
The patriarch leaned on his walker and into his cell
Wearily said, “Everybody’s here . . . except Darnell.”
I don’t know this family’s ins and outs, and yet
There’s a Darnell in every family I’ve ever met.
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Steven Kent: This Split's Bananas
Mind and body torn asunder,
R. Descartes’ historic blunder.
Ancient Greeks would pitch a fit
To learn of his Cartesian split:
Cogito, ergo sum? Guess maybe
You forgot the body, baby!
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L. A. Mereoie: Parisian Potshot
When Monsieur Blaireau bagged a thrush
And heard a keeper’s angry bark
Then, in the momentary hush,
Another guest’s surprised remark
He murmured, with a mounting blush,
“Vraiment, I took it for a lark.”
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Margaret Owen Ruckert: Cash Conversion
(In Australia, shops, cafes, etc add a fee
when using a credit card.)
Why pay charges by the score,
and more! – depending on the store,
or cosy restaurant or pub?
I shall give them all a snub
and line my purse with wads of dosh.
Handling money? Feels like posh.
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Alan Millichip: The Praying Mantis
(Over 25% of female Praying Mantis eat
the male immediately after mating.)
The Praying Mantis gave a sigh,
He sensed he was about to die;
Though in love he’d been a winner,
Next, he’s breakfast lunch or dinner;
In his small brain just one regret,
There’s no post coital cigarette.
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Terese Coe: Itty Bitty Ditty
An itty bitty spider on my desk!
I crushed it with one finger, how grotesque!
I'm lucky I was quick enough to kill
cuz it was quick, but I was quicker still.
All roads lead to hell, if truth be said –
and a wayward traveler tries to get ahead.
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Felicia Nimue Ackerman: How Sweet It Isn't
"[Rishi Sunak’s] plan seeks to raise the legal age of
smoking every year by a year so that eventually no-one
no-one can buy tobacco. Tory MPs will be allowed
a free vote while Labour indicated it would back the policy.”
- BBC News
Non-smokers may also have reason for fear.
Tobacco to start could mean candy next year.
What’s more, when it comes to your freedom to choose,
You’d better not count on your access to booze.
Your smoking would sometimes harm others, it’s true.
But when you’re alone, can’t it be up to you?
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Jerome Betts: Kitchen Culture War?
(The hard right Conservative MP and former
Home Secretary Suella Braverman, once
branded Labour and Lib Dem supporters as
‘Guardian reading, tofu-eating wokerati’.)
Those bean-curd and Guardian folk
For Suella were overly woke
And definitely not okey-doke,
Prime targets about which to joke
And jeer at and verbally poke . . .
Or was it of stir-fry she spoke?
