[RCL]

Tree Letters to the World

These are our letters to the world
On paper made from Trees -
Essential truths that must be told -
But far too few can see

The messages we now deliver -
From Groves that all should see -
For love of Life, as we decline,
Our messages are pleas

After Emily Dickinson (Franklin #519; Johnson 441)

From Tiny Seeds Literary Journal

[Gail White]

I've been re-reading this thread and thinking what a great anthology it would make. Also realizing I've never posted this one, from "Visiting Frost", 2005.

TRAVELING WITH CATS ON A SNOWY EVENING

I've no idea whose woods these are,
but I'm not getting very far
from Albany to NYC
with two cats yowling in my car.

These dratted cats must think it queer
to stop without a sandbox near,
but listen, guys, I'm twice your size,
so use the woods or else, you hear?

They give their big round eyes a blink
to ask each other what they think,
and I can tell they'll make life hell,
and plan on driving me to drink.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep.
The car is slowing to a creep.
Why did I try to cross NY?
I'm breathing cat hairs in my sleep.

[Catherine Chandler]

Dear Gail,


Your take on Frost had me in stitches. Thank you for making my day!


Cathy

[James Midgley]

Personal Pelican
Apologies to Heaney

As a kid, they could not keep me from birds.
I'd throw them chips I bought from the fish van.
I loved the quick flit and the way they soared --
a gull or sparrow to the outstretched hand.

One on a Brighton beachfront with yellowed eyes.
I liked the way he trotted on the sand
and with imperious comport capsized
in my lap, made off with the contraband.

A nervous one under a bare hedgerow
debated on the topic of the seeds
I scattered far too long, until a crow
swept in and snatched away the choice to feed.

Still others you could grab if you were quick,
caress or tickle, shove into a pocket
or, with some bravery, give a little lick.
I caught a barn owl with an upturned bucket.

Now, to tear the bread, to finger a feather,
to toss a pigeon at the sky or chatter
back to the parrot, is far and well beneath me.
So I wax lyrical upon the matter.

[RCL]

A Muskrat Ramble

With a nod to Satchmo

Oh, look at them shuffle, a-shufflin' down,
And ramblin’, scramblin’ in DC town,
Hustlin', bustlin', buzzin' aroun’
In jumpin’ slashin’ celebration
For the MUSK & MAGA nation!

Musk’s kid Know-Nothin’s, green like slime,
Are huffin' an’ puffin’ double time,
Democracy’s strugglin’ to survive,
As Musk, King POTUS and SCOTUS thrive
Singin’ their swingin’ Muskrat tune
‘Bout cuttin’ and stealin’, but never creatin’.

Today it’s a raucous anthem played
By their rockin’ an' wreckin’ parade,
A reckless march, a ravagin’ raid
On a hapless unhappy jobless throng
They Jackboot stomp to a Muskrat song.

Early Trump/Musk administration 2025

From Chaos, Crisis, Conflict (2025) Moonstone Arts Center anthology

[RCL]

A Retro Industrial Revolution

A nod to Wordsworth, The World Is Too Much With Us

The POTUS claims a monarchy, his MAGA boon,
and gutting government, his twisted power
fires thousands, his threats make allies cower.
I don’t know, he says when plotting ruin;
don’t know that blazing August’s now in June;
don’t know about those fed by our endowers—
the sick and war-torn wilting faster than flowers.
I don’t know on trade’s a muddled tune:
He melts down, rages to even up the score,
and dictates an Industrial creed outworn
that exploits children, the weak and struggling poor.
Not unionized, their worker’s rights unborn.
Such crises and chaos democracies deplore
make the knowing world react with scorn.

Early Trump/Musk and clown-car cabinet 2025

Up at New Verse News

[RCL]

Kitsch as Kitsch Can

Due to his unprocessed daily menu

(Ordering from the Golden Arches
Firing and surreal hiring
Neutering universities
Decimating Medicaid
Ambushing world leaders
Deporting Black and Brown
Gilding lies and office knick-knacks
And polishing the golden throne
He fills and flushes every day)

This stink arises: Totalitarian Kitsch.

[Mary Boren]

(with apologies to Tennyson)

Half a loaf, half a loaf,
Half a loaf onward.
All in the belly at once,
Toasted and buttered.
"Downward the raisin bread,
Charge past the gums!" she said.
Into the belly, the crunch
Echoed and sputtered.

"Forward the Midnight Raid!
Slather the marmalade!"
(Not tho' the sleeper knew
Someone had plundered.)

Pizza and pudding cup,
Hers not to pass 'em up.
Cookies? Another batch
Scavenged and down the hatch.

Mirror to right of her
Mirror to left of her
Mirror behind her,
Back to the cupboard.
"Diet begins at dawn,
After the gravy's gone,"
Humbly she blubbered.


-1998 mb

[Mary Boren]

(with apologies to Gilbert & Sullivan)

BABY DONALD
I am the very model of a stable genius president,
the oldest living toddler in America's chief residence.
My finger's on the button of the Arsenal of Nuclear
diverting your attention to that other guy who's spookier.

Because I see the writing on the wall and need a shock immense
enough to hide behind when Mueller comes with legal documents,
I'll stamp my foot and contradict the evidence connecting me
to Putin while the GOP goes bigly down protecting me.

The party bought a ticket to the taming of democracy.
I'll hold it down, they'll kick it to the radical theocracy
who loves to hear me reading from the book of Two Corinthian.
They'll revolutionize the world in matters labyrinthian.

GOP CHORUS
With many cheerful lies about our pretty kakistocracy!
With many cheerful lies about our pretty kakistocracy!
With many cheerful lies about our pretty kakistocra-stocracy!

BABY DONALD
I'm very good at coloring with crayons on the diagram
provided by my generals who think they're smarter than I am.
In short, my hands are big and my intelligence is evident
I am the very model of a stable genius president.

TRUMPISTA CHORUS
In short, his hands are big and his intelligence is evident,
He is the very model of a stable genius president!

BABY DONALD
I have the words my alter egos, Tweetledum and Tweetledee,
can fling in haste when anyone is trying to outwheedle me.
I proudly shout down idiots who still consider hate a sin.
Nobody else is qualified to make the country great again.

A prickle in the side of Nanny Mitch and Speaker Ryan,
anytime my mouth is open it's a sign my lips are lyin'
as I reignite the culture wars and cultivate acedia*
by stifling all reports from that infernal nosy media.

GOP CHORUS
We'll stifle all reports from that infernal nosy media!
We'll stifle all reports from that infernal nosy media!
We'll stifle all reports from that infernal nosy medi-media!

BABY DONALD
Then I can sign all legislative bills without congressional
approval. On the Mar-a-Lago greens, I'm inaccessible.
In short, it matters not, for my authority is evident,
I am the very model of a stable genius president.

TRUMPISTA CHORUS
In short, it matters not, for his authority is evident,
He is the very model of a stable genius president!

. . .

He is the very model of a stable genius president!
He is the very model of a stable genius president!
He is the very model of a stable genius genius president!

BABY DONALD
I needn't know the meaning of the words with many syllables
when I know more of bluster than a crooked lawyer's billables.
In short, when you're the target of the purest spittle ever spat,
you'll say a better stable genius president has never sat!

GOP CHORUS
You'll say a better stable genius president has never sat!
You'll say a better stable genius president has never sat!


*acedia - Baby Donald heard this word on CNN and thought it meant hero worship.

-2018 mb

[Mary Boren]

(with apologies to Frost)

Whose shoes are these? I'd like to know,
and whichaway'd that rascal go?
He left a soggy mess behind.
All dressed in black from head to toe,
he'd naught but mischief on his mind.
I saw him peekin' through the blind
while I was gettin' into bed.
When you investigate, you'll find
he tripped across the sprinkler head
and lost his sneakers when he fled.

I watched the water spew and spew.
My garden's trampled, roses dead --
there's nothin' left for you to do.
But if the fool comes sneakin' through,
tonight, I'll shoot his socks off too.
Tonight I'll shoot his socks off too.


-2012 mb