Bob Whitmire: Good Night
I will not go gentle into that good night,
But I will go, probably with my hands
In my pockets, and whistling a tune
That strikes me as appropriate −
While I try to prepare a perfect
Wisecrack for Saint Peter, if I see him.
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Peggy Verrall: Last Lines For A Cat
When a cat decides to let you serve and care for him for ever,
He also takes, without a word, a corner of your heart,
And stores it full of memories not even time can sever
Though he’ll grow old and frail and weak and the time will come to part.
So you’ll always remember, though he’s long in the grave,
The days the kindly creature allowed you to be his slave.
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Jerome Betts: Trophies
The stubbles mallard once enjoyed
Are built on now and bungaloid.
Here, in a vast expanse of glass,
We view a Mrs Grockle-Brass,
Whom wildfowl, Autumnwatched, enthral.
Three
china
ducks
adorn her wall.
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Suchoon Mo: National Debt
national debt of Greece
that is a Greek tragedy
national debt of Italy
that is an Italian opera
national debt of Spain
stop the Spanish bull fight!
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Damian Balassone: Election Campaign Speech
I am tremendous.
I am terrific.
She is horrendous.
She is horrific.
Yes, she is so horrendously horrific,
but I am so tremendously terrific.
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David Galef: Effusion, or
The Way They Talk Nowadays
(For Willard Spiegelman)
“No problem!” says the bartender.
“Absolutely!” shouts the waiter.
“You got it!” cries the server
Or “No worries” a bit later.
But all I asked for
Was a glass of water.
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L.A. Mereoie: Mini-Eulogy
Hello there, San Marino,
In the limestone Appennino!
Although titchy and not coastal
With an income partly postal
Who wouldn’t cross much water
To consume your famous Torta?
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Paul Willis: Yarrow
(Achillea millefolium)
Yarrow, yarrow,
ferny pharaoh,
ruling by the roadside here:
in the blood
and in the marrow
of the northern hemisphere.
