Last week, I was part of a poetry reading at the East Lansing Public Library. I was encouraged by the audience’s reaction to a few of my new poems. I offer them here, as a April-is-Poetry-Month salute. The audience laughed all the right places (thank you to every single one of you) and that reaction was a wake up call to me to write more funny stuff. I’m not sure that you’ll see me doing stand up comedy in the future, but I have started reading Comedy Writing Secrets and aiming toward a more humorous tone in my poems. We’ll see where it leads.
A few, unrelated Haiku
Nuthatch speeds from branch
To feeder to branch and back —
Life’s rat race displayed
Life isn’t five-seven-five
Life rhymes sometimes
Nearly
Most of my exercise
Is pulling myself out of bed
To write this
— — —
FYI: A dancing madrone (below)
How You Know You’re in the Northwest
First of all, you and your car
Are in line for a ferry.
You’ve been on an island
Where time is inconsequential
And you are temporarily
Giving up all that
To make the ferry
At a certain time
The air is crisp
Even early in the afternoon sun.
A Madrone’s sensuous bar
Catches your eye
As it dances out through the wood
A sporty, older couple
Sips coffee
In their matching caps,
Chuckling at secret jokes
A human beauty
Madrone-like in her mystery
Walks by, not really
Noticing you.
In your sideview mirror,
You watch her stop
Suddenly
Putting her hand in the window
Of a stranger’s car
To pet a dog
She doesn’t know.
This goes on for a time.
You can’t keep your eyes
Off her enjoyment.
As she walks on,
You realize
That you
Are jealous
Of
The
Dog.
— — —
Apologies
I intended
To be
A better person —
The dad we wish
We had,
The one who stops
The car
To help the stranger
And does actually help.
One of the
Pure of heart
24/7, 365
One of the
Type A organizers,
As least where
My desk is concerned
One of the
People who never
Need to apologize
But I do.
And so
I apologize
To everyone
For all of it.
There.
That does feel better.
Was it good for you?
Let’s get on with
Life!
— — —
Anonymous Incognito
I can’t tell you
How many times
I’ve been enjoying
A poem, only to look down
Or flip the page
And the great Anonymous
Was the poet
Flying under the radar
With immense humility
Anon nearly always
Satisfies.
And Anon’s versatility —
One minute rhyming
Like a master,
The next a short
Free verse picture of life.
And timeless, my goodness,
Anon never dies.
Anonymous has a self-appointed
Androgynous immortality.
So my dear Anonymous
Who could be listening now,
Probably is,
I salute you.
On so many levels —
You are classy
In your stealth.
I am in awe of
your prolific volumes.
Maybe it’s your humble
Nature that’s kept you
Alive so long,
Albeit incognito.