Thursday, September 24, 2009

Three Limericks

A Cure

There once was a lady named Bess
Afflicted with dread PMS.
She gave herself ease,
Ate yogurt and cheese;
(More calcium kept down distress.)
c lovepat press 2009

In Eureka Springs

There was an old hotel, the Crescent
Which housed a ghost, Michael, senescent.
He made my bath water
First colder, then hotter.
My middle-aged skin's now pearlescent!
c lovepat press 2009

Dee Mac Dee

There once was a classmate of mine
Offended that I would drink wine.
"I'm speechless!" he said,
"You're much too well bred."
I pushed him in Lake Norrell's brine.
c lovepat press 2009

Thursday, September 17, 2009

VARIATIONS ON A BALLADE PATTERN

Last night I couldn't sleep a wink --
reaction to your call
that she was over with the drink,
the pizza, sons, and all
her helplessness (the gall!)
has kept my spirit from its rest,
so that today I walk the hall
and wish 't were I who'd been your guest.

Why do I worry so, you ask.
"I've told you you're the one.
You think my protestations mask
some silly, willy-nilly fun
to keep your psyche quite undone?
I told you I love you the best;
now of your jealousy be done,
for only you shall be my guest."

(For this ballade to end up whole,
it must include another verse.
French forms--factitious--must cajole
both form and content into terse
but lucid stanzas. I immerse
my jealousy in words to wrest
catharsis from a chafing curse.
Aha! 'tis I who've been the guest.)

For seven years this poem's lain
unfinished in my writer's chest.
But time has exorcized the pain:
you married her, SHE'S been your guest.

c lovepat press 2009

Monday, September 7, 2009

September already?

BLACKBIRDS

While walking at the park today
I came upon this scene:
Some four and twenty blackbirds
had lit upon the green.

The flock was pecking seriously
at something in the ground.
And as I kept my pacing,
I wondered what they'd found.

When I came by the second time,
not one bird was in sight.
Had something in the atmosphere
caused them to leave in fright?

Third lap, I saw a silhouette;
I thought of "Aura Lee."
The birds were perching high atop
a blackened willow tree.

c lovepatpress 2009