On Having a Fellow Poet to Send Stuff To
Think of Shakespeare, finishing a scene
And laying aside his pen,
Saying to himself, "That's one I'll have to
Make sure I show to Ben."


Punctuation
How great an invention is the comma,
The purpose of which is chiefly
To make us pause and think,
Even if ever so briefly.


As Time Goes By
The poor makers of clocks and watches
Are slowly losing their power.
More and more people are checking cellphones
To determine the hour.


At Walgreen's
Illness and injury are good for some in this world.
They are the source of profit for the healing trades.
Think of all the aspirin sold by Bayer
And Johnson & Johnson's bandaging aids.


The Old Formalist Needs Love, Too
Nightly I see TV commercials for services
Aimed at mixing, matching, and mating
And wonder why for the very, very old,
There isn't a site called Carbon Dating.


Curdled Thought
Many mornings I am reminded
Of the acidic state of my soul:
More than once I have unknowingly poured
Sour milk into my cereal bowl.

In the Locker Room
A thought came to me the other day
(As usual it was metered)--
More than one man is appalled
At the way that he's appetered.


Verba Sat Sap
Cliches are clichés because they are true.
There can be little doubt about that.
There is a barrel whose bottom we scrape
And a bag out of which we let the cat.