Category Archives: doggerel

On the Tracks

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Thomas Jefferson got squished by a train
Last month. Now the back of his head
Is all smooth, and nobody can remember
If he had a ponytail or regular hair.

Now his motto is just IN GOD
And LIBERTY is smeared out behind him
Smooth, vague, and barely legible.
You can read it only if you already know it’s there.

Reverse, his home’s half-pictured, MONT-something,
Surrounded by noble sentiments half-named:
PLURIBUS. UNITED. FIVE. The rest is gone,
Left on the rails, I guess.

I always heard a coin on the tracks
Could derail a train.
Maybe I just heard wrong. Or maybe
This is a job for Abraham Lincoln.

Bears Dancing in the Northern Air

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Bears rarely dance in northern air.
They do not dance much anywhere.
Bears much prefer a quiet lair
And rest and contemplation there.

I think the general sort of bear
Would be astonished and would stare
If any of their kin should dare
To dance about in northern air.

Though some perhaps would nothing care
It might drive others to despair.

Then lucky it’s so very rare.

 

An Apology

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O spider, dear spider, why did I ever shrink from you in fright?
I am sorry now I did, for now I know it was not right.
O spider, dear spider, please watch and keep me safe tonight
Only do not come too close, please; only mind you do not bite.

Continue reading →

The Chinese Dragons 2

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II.
In the time before men the dragons ruled the air,
Spurning the ground,
Fearing nothing, not even the sea.
Evil by their birth,
They were most noble.

Ghost

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in again out again, up again, down

again come around
tapping the window, rapping the door

vanishing before
leaving a shadow, remaining as a doubt

in the dark gone out

The Chinese Dragons

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I.
The Chinese dragons have faces like old men
Grow stronger the older they grow
Lie by telling the truth
Can ride the slightest wind to invisible heights
Are beautiful in motion, hideous in repose.

Bubble Story

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Here's a fat thing, a bubble.
Air bobs it.  It flirts with light,
sucks blue from the sky.

It wants to wander, but where?
There's no wind to show a way.
Without a goal to vex it, 
it stays a toy, untroubled.

A dog comes nosing, smelling soap,
then yelps and shies.
The bubble spits a rainbow as it dies.

 
                                   
                                   (photos by RolandasJ, carterse)

Turkey Vulture

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photo by Linda Tanner

Turkey vulture don’t eat turkey
Fly all day and don’t get thirsty
See his cousins all round circling
Come on down to see

Turkey vultures, bald as death
Got black feathers, got bad breath
When they gather for a feast
Happy as can be.

The Camel

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A camel laughing all night long

Will never be a beast of song

When morning rises from the sands

He sets away for foreign lands.

Alphabet, Schmalphabet – O, o

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Oh, an Octopus is just the thing
When you’re out of string.

Yes, instead of a ball of twine
An Octopus works fine.

Last Christmas Eve I got a box
Done up in Octopus-knots.

It’s nicely tied — there’s even a bow.
But what’s inside? I still don’t know.

The Octopus
won’t
let
go.