Max Gutmann: On Eggshells
“If he gave someone a dozen eggs,
every egg in the carton would
have a line of verse on it.” – J. D.
McClatchy about James Merrill.
His pen Roused glee:
“Hooray!” "Compact!"
The hen, Too, backed
His lay, In fact.
But when It's me,
They say, "He's cracked!"
( First published in Measure)
◎ ◎ ◎ ◎ ◎
L.A. Mereoie: Heart In Mouth
A pop-star, whose pets triggered fashions,
Paid no heed to her young tiger's passions.
She got quite a surprise
When she looked in his eyes –
And a love-bite that turned her to rations.
◎ ◎ ◎ ◎ ◎
Elizabeth Horrocks: Reflection On Spelling
Homophones can really irk
In the phrases where they lurk.
Choosing vowels is hard work.
Get them wrong, you'll feel a berk.
◎ ◎ ◎ ◎ ◎
Daniel Galef: The Mosquito
The skeeter’s not a meek insect, or
One that can subsist on nectar.
No – it slakes its vampirific
Urges, and becomes a vector.
◎ ◎ ◎ ◎ ◎
Phil Huffy: Money Isn't Everything
In despair at her life's leaden palette,
A billionaire's wife took a mallet
And biffed the old boy
So that she could enjoy
The butler, both chefs, and a valet.
◎ ◎ ◎ ◎ ◎
David Galef: Quatrain for Dr Spooner
His film genre’s noir romantic.
The male leads are all tough rakes.
Yet his shooting’s precise and fussy,
Each scene needing thirty rough takes.
◎ ◎ ◎ ◎ ◎
Damian Balassone: Epitaph
Here lies the scribbler Damian Balassone
condemned to death for rhyming abalone
with his silly-sounding name.
Let the bastard rot in shame.
◎ ◎ ◎ ◎ ◎
Jerome Betts: Air on A Tuber
A King Edward is not like a bean.
It grows underground, best unseen.
For people it’s fun
Going brown in the sun
But potatoes just turn bottle-green.
◎ ◎ ◎ ◎ ◎
Paul Willis: Salal
(Gaultheria shallon)
I had a friend in school named Sal;
when she got drunk she said Salal.
The gods then turned her to a plant
as plain and chaste as my great aunt.
But on the trail with my missus,
Sal stops my boots with her wet kisses.
