(1994)
Republished by permission from "Lyric," Vol. 74, No. 3
descriptive humorous quatrain
His Hobby Our Mr. Hughes, retired, was exce… At working wood, and every Yule h… A creche —cut plywood forms to rep… The cast, especially Jesus, whom…
A big brown dog, gray around the muzzle, lay in the front yard of an old h… between his front paws a tennis ba… As we walked by,
A Dumb Waiter in a Heavenly res… (Lou’s Cafe: Fontvielle, France) Our voices hushed, we slip into the narrow, gloomy room, a taper on the back-wall bar
My First Pot Boiler (George Meredith advised Thomas… Dear Publisher: I’ve joined a fiction writing grou… Techniques that writing experts ha…
Kinkade Faces Reality* To coda played by lonely whippoorw… A tiny cottage dons its dusk-dark… And snuggles into undulating hills… Its chimney twisting just a curl o…
We thank You for his youthful ind… And pray You’ll pardon subsequent…
Intellectual Insecurity When I must read reports I really don’t feel too slick If I can’t see what’s wrong When I encounter a [sic].
High Mindedness Our hunters, armed with guns and b… Go forth to thin the numerous deer… So none will starve, we’re to supp… Though that lie causes me to sneer…
A Teacher to a Boy with a Center… While you turn red at my approach,… Your nails and shift your eyes abo… Attempting all the while a saving… I play the teacher’s role: I set…
Give Me No Perfect Things Give me no perfect things: a snowflake - kalaidoscopic, machine-cut, different but all alike,
The Widow The corpse returned from war in pa… In unison they marched, in unison… Clucked like a chicken, went cock-… Hopped around like a kangaroo,
I Defy the Cosmos This cosmic clutter wins no beauty… As ob-jet d’art it’s mostly gaudy… Like those on Christmas trees, ex… And kitchy rings at which the tast…
One day within our thirties bungal… tiny radios transformed to giant… that color-flooded modest living r… But later those constricted cells expanded into spacious chambers
Don’t shock me with your atheistic… God gave us all a book that proves… And serves us as a guide for all w… excepting parts that don’t make se… God serves us like a good psycholo…
Anthropomorphism Two pigs copulate above The legend “Makin’ Bacon”; A lobster sports a chef’s cap, beckons with big red claw;