We have gone around the sun almost once together
strange thing is
***************it looks exactly the same
from
*****every
***********side
the only way to tell which side we are on
is to look at our
**************clocks or
***********************calendars
but looking at the sun reveals nothing
I have the feeling
****************though
that if I look at you
something will tell one of us
which side
**********of the sun
*******************is coming up.
The sun is shining bright enough
to make our cat think that it must
be warmer outside and I am just
about to agree ‘coz the furnace bust.
I don’t even want to think such stuff
My wife and the cat and I are tough
but it’s twenty below, and that’s enough
to make us fear this could get rough.
I bought some heaters got out some stuff
like multiple sweaters and the old ear muffs
in case the repair guy calls my bluff
and tells me repairs won’t be enough.
And so we’re waiting shivering gruff
for repairs and heat and other stuff
like whether the news is bad enough
that we’ll rue the day the furnace bust.
In the eighteenth century
thirty-five was deemed to be
minimum age for a senator
for only then was one mature
seasoned, in fact, senior.
As I will soon double that age
I should in theory be declared
a double-senator who is
double mature and double smart
double- seasoned, in fact,
double-senior.
I recently took on the task
of posting a poem for comment
in zeugma discussion list
— simple, you say.
Ah, but let me tell you:
I had to send it four times
to get the indentations to show.
(The third does not count
because I mis-addressed it)
How’s that for a debut?
Now if I divide the four sendings
by my double-smart profile
does that mean I appear
only twice as stupid
as I should?
Ga-ga.
in our house on campus
Mark was the sophisticated college guy
with a posh English accent
living in a tiny room all by itself
at the foot of the stairs
he was immaculately groomed
wore an Ascot
smoked a pipe
and read Greek and German
my roommate and I were
freshmen
he a hick from upstate New York
I a sophisticate from
the north Ontario bush
we had gone to Mark
to ask what he thought
we should buy to drink
on our first university dates
There’s nothing like a bottle of Madeira
he said
would you
buy it for us
since we’re not twenty-one
we said
volunteering to pay for it
he said
There’s nothing like a bottle of Madeira
and agreed
we were so excited
heading out with
our bottle and
our girls
I don’t remember the date
I sort of remember the girl
and the bottle
but I do remember how
two guys had to
help me up the stairs
to my room well after curfew
and how I wanted
to go up horizontally
and I remember how
hung-over we both were
the next morning
I think I agree
There’s nothing like a bottle of Madeira
stuck my finger out the door
pulled finger back pretty fast
cat won’t go outside
kid’s tongue stuck to a steel pole
breath froze like a thunder cloud
talk is of wollies for the rest of the winter
good thing too
month ago
palmy breezes shirtsleeve weather
global warming got a boost
politicians rolling up their elbows
going to fix it arrogance
on a scale of one to a million
where one is normal weather
and a million is planet pulverization
this winter ranks about a ten
yawn
when I was a kid
we had pretty much all this
and more
I walked uphill through waist-deep snow
both going to school and coming home
my fingers froze and dropped off
heck my arms turned black
and that was in bed
we sure were relieved when summer came
‘course it only stayed for five days
worried about the weather?
chill