issue 24 > light verse

• I make a list of words

  by Donna Barkman I can’t remember: scapula,
  Cyclops, clavicle, derelict.
  
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• Circular Saw

  by Jerome Betts I think that I shall never see
  
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• Sex and Utensils or Who Was That Ladle I Saw You With Last Night?

  by Shirley J. Brewer Men fork, women spoon.
  
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• The Portrait of Gorian Dreigh

  by Michael Cantor His friends and colleagues envy Gorian Dreigh -
  prolific poet with a rugged look
  
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• Rush Hour Sonondilla

  by Catherine Chandler I celebrate the great sardine
  
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• Out Back

  by Wiley Clements I planted this vegetable garden for household use. My rows
  run straight on, from fence to fence in lines of garden prose,
  
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• Coffee Break

  by Terese Coe Am I a simp
  because I’m single?
  
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• The Crown of Blues

  by Wesli Court My boss pulled off the worst of his mean acts —
  He handed me the glare, and then the axe.
  
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• The Department Meeting Blues

  by Wesli Court I've got the old Department Meeting blues.
  
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• Manatee

  by Wesli Court The waters where I swim are alga-green:
  
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• Mealage Gnomes

  by Wesli Court Shall I compare you to a summer day?
  December’s closing in; we’re done with May.
  
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• Crane Gnomes on 'To Brooklyn Bridge'

  by Wesli Court How many dawns, chill from his rippling rest,
  Does the poet count in Poseidon’s chest?
  
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• Punctuation Gallant

  by Susan de Sola Guillemets was going to Interpunct his Solidus
  with a Bullet, or possibly a Dagger or Caret,
  
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• Frost and Fire

  by Susan de Sola Some say the world will end with frost,
  
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• Aftermath

  by Rhina P. Espaillat Poor mush I swatted with an angry hand
  
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• Hearing the Word

  by Rhina P. Espaillat The missionary impulse frankly leaves me unimpressed.
  
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• Don't Poo Poo the Dung Ho Migrant

  by Derek Fenton Industrious dung beetle do you ever miss
  
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• Responsibility

  by Jack Foley Is an old woman courted by Incapacity.
  
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• Raindroppings

  by Max Gutmann Can anyone make out
  
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• Housekeeping Haiku

  by Max Gutmann Why clean a week's dust
  
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• Not a Ragtime Ballade

  by Max Gutmann What's given us of actual existence?
  
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• Famous Last Words

  by Max Gutmann To die with a word
  through which fame is assured
  
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• The Woman He Loved

  by R.S. Gwynn Before the Prince bonks Mrs. Simpson
  It is said that he knows all the pimps on
  The length of the Strand,
  
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• I know of a puppy named Spot

  by Ruth F. Harrison I know of a puppy named Spot
  who loves taking walks past a post.
  
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• A Cougar Considers Her Boy-toy

  by Clarinda Harriss Bless his sweet ass, but
  did he have a stroke?
  
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• The Sophist Under the Soffits

  by Clarinda Harriss those Saxonized suffixes of lintels,
  parged to perfection by professionals
  in the builders’ guild--contemplates
  
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• Pot Aux Foux

  by Daniel Hoffman Gérard de Nerval’s ribbon led
  
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• The Lobster's Testimony

  by Jack Foley Not even Dr. Blanche could tell
  
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• A Charm Against Sciatica

  by Daniel Hoffman and Jack Foley To make vanish the Elf-shot
  
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• The Influence

  by Elizabeth Johnson Credit where due, I owe the most to booze.
  
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• On the Death of B.F. Skinner

  by A.M. Juster The headlines were unanimous
  
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• For my Ambitious Colleague

  by A.M. Juster Your uphill climb will never stop;
  
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• Visions of the Serengeti

  by A.M. Juster When Mutual of Omaha supported
  
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• Car Dealer's Cantata

  by Jean Kreiling "What would it take to put you in this Taurus
  today?" he asked. Of course I’d seen it coming:
  
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• The Choice

  by Jean Kreiling She paused, uncertain how she wished to end
  
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• The Plan

  by Michele Leavitt Don’t tell me you expect to buy a phone
  
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• Christmas Letter

  by Duncan MacLaurin The Board regrets to have to say your job has disappeared.
  
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• 24-Hour Urine Sample

  by Charlotte Mandel It’s hard to keep one’s easy insouciance
  
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• Morbid Interest

  by Susan McLean How unpleasant to meet Mr. Poe.
  
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• The Romance of Middle Age

  by Mary Meriam Now that I’m fifty, let me take my showers
  
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• First Cause

  by Richard Meyer Some never finish wondering
  
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• Quandry

  by Richard Meyer For love I willfully undress
  
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• It's Time

  by Cynthia Neely It’s those whose flesh fits firm on limber frames
  
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• A.E. Housman Changes a Light Bulb

  by Chris O'Carroll The bulb that once lit up this room
  
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• Amsterdam

  by Chris O'Carroll Yes, I remember Amsterdam.
  
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• Putting my Finger on It

  by Jayne Osborn The ebay window says [Commit to buy]
  
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• Abstaining

  by Frank Osen Quite late the morning-after, Common Sense
  
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• Snake Farm

  by Frank Osen The gravid tourist van disgorges prey,
  
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• In the Valley of the Shadow

  by Frank Osen The first iconic photograph of war
  
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• Pandemonium

  by Alexander Pepple We’re out for pandemonium in the zoos
  
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• Heroes Don't Send Postcards

  by Noam D. Plum Heroes don't keep diaries.
  
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• Philosophical Debate

  by Martin Rocek 'Do I have free will or not?'
  
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• The fork in the road not taken

  by Martin Rocek Why did the chicken fell the tree?
  
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• Three Things

  by Robert Schechter There are three things my captive heart
  
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• Dame Rhetoric

  by Robert Schechter Synecdoche means when we name
  
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• The Thought I Thinkt

  by Robert Schechter Yesterday the thought I thinkt
  
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• Starting

  by Robert Schechter Ashes to ashes,
  
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• Monkey See

  by Ed Shacklee Monkeys see and do like men.
  
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• Valentine's Day

  by Ed Shacklee The cruel little boy with a bow
  
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• Uncle Arthur: The Nuclear Option

  by Neil Shepard Seabrook was his baby. His middle name was safety. He could clean his kid’s diaper
  
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• Uncle George

  by Neil Shepard Uncle George made a million bucks selling real estate,
  
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• One Word Poem

  by David Slavitt Motherless.
  
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• Drawing

  by Philip Sultz If I can't solve the figure
  
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• Not So Much

  by Carol Taylor What could depend on a
  red wheelbarrow?
  
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• A Slant on Life: Imperfections Through the Centuries

  by John Timpane Much like the Mona Lisa,
  
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• Better

  by John Timpane Something about the couch
  
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• In the Forties

  by John Timpane Wake up, get up, venture nearer;
  
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• A Poet's Wish

  by Catherine Tufariello I wish I were some valley cheese,
  
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• The Nightingale's Reply to the Poet

  by Catherine Tufariello 'My heart aches, and a drowsy' blah, blah, blah.
  
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• Baggage

  by Deborah Warren Don’t tell me you expect to find a guy
  
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• Did I Miss Anything

  by Tom Wayman Nothing. When we realized you weren't here
  we sat with our hands folded on our desks
  
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• Performing Gender

  by Tom Wayman On my knees in tilled soil, I deposit
  
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• The Poet Who Mistook His Watch for a High School Principal

  by Tom Wayman An anomaly of nature
  
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• In Answer to Your Questions

  by Gail White Your Uncle Harry doesn't know himself
  
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