[RCL]

A Perfectionist’s Hair

When thirteen, he still displayed
his “trailing clouds of glory”
and obsessively replayed
William Wordsworth’s theory.*

Blessed, he bore long curly hair,
envied far and wide,
and groomed it with cosmetic care,
black locks his greatest pride.

Hair had merged his arching brows,
but it was daily plucked
and thinned until it was two rows—
the unibrow was shucked.

Cheeks and chin were bare of beard,
the smoothest in his class,
but he was just a classic nerd,
a hapless horse’s ass.

*In “Ode: Intimations of Immortality...”

[RCL]

Poem Pong

I post and wait
And wait and wait

You post a crit
You think is fit

I read your words
think some are turds

You think it’s weak
I think you reek

I craft new rhymes
You call them crimes

You fault the measure
I think is treasure

I post a rant
You say recant

I find your crit
Is all legit!!

I then revise
Revise revise

Five versions strong
That ping and pong

From crit to draft
To me gone daft

I know it’s best
To let it rest

But love the game:
Always the same.