Sonnets from the Porch (For Geese)

I. From “Oh, Hell, Dolly!”

The quality of mercy is not strain’d:
your doll's left knee must surely, Miss, be drain’d,
lest Dolly live to joint discomfort chain’d.

II. From “Christopher Rodney King Saying His Prayers”

Friends, Romans, countrymen: lend me your ears!

I'm loath to shun thee, then tend Eeyore's tears:
Pooh’s, too…? Can't we just get along, my dears…?

III. From “Bill (Not Tell) Mispells 'Marcel’”

Buff'lo Bill's defunct, who used to ride...

"Enough!" goes Will; he thrusts his Proust aside.
"Not Dr. J.,* Marsell (sic): Mr. Hyde!"    

     * Refers to Henry Jekyll not the NBA’s Julius Erving

IV. From “The Accident-Prone Tourist”

Midway on the journey of our life...

skid -- a wrong right turn – and shove your wife,
whose gams they’ll give a gurney. (Troubl'n' strife!)

V. From “Missin’ ‘im A’ready”

Now I lay me down to sleep: I pray,

somehow, some way around this creep I may
detour, and -- dammit! – ditch this dweeb, okay…?

VI. From “Recess or Recession…?”

Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita.

Huge debts…? Oh, well: I'm into Kraft Velveeta, 
whose pleth'ra plumps both pockets of my pita.

VII. From “Autumn Hazing”

The force that through the green fuse drives the flower,

of course, with blue-green genes, arrives quite sour.
(Good Lord! Such gunk grows grues'mer by the hour.

VIII. From “‘I's Dead!’ Zone”

It is the bes’ of times; it is the worst...

my biz be: mess with rhymes.It’s dis 'head' first --
then 'ped-', then ‘bread,' then ‘thread,' 'then wed'... (I’m curs’d!)

IX. From “November Song”

Sing, goddess, of Achilles' ru'nous wrath.

"Cape Cod has, Love, grown chilly: do the math!
Hull hath no heat; the Heath, however, hath."

X. From “Gee! O. D., Dammit!”

Because I could not stop for Death, he kind-

ly does. Why should I drop the meth I find…? 
Fee, fie! My fix…? Unfound. Fuck! What a bind!

XI. From “The Raven & the ProdiGuy”

Upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered,
my son -- damn kid! – right here my pile he squander’d.
(Though blitz'd by boys before, till now, not Donder'd.)

XII. From "Leave 'E(l)m Alone!"

Though much I've travell’d in the realms of gold,
as such, I have not shimmird elms this old.
(Dutch Elm Disease...? I wish I'd not been told.)

XIII. From “Semi-Sonnets For Seniors, Verse 90”

Gather rosebuds while ye may, Old Timer!
Her wrath, thou knows, is vile. Ye'd play the rhymer
but dis the Muse: indeed, ye'd nickl' ‘n' dime 'er.

XIV. From “Same Again!”

Do not go gentle into that good night...?

You've got to. An', when gin's this flat, you're right
to've skipp’d the black ‘n’ tans: pour Black & White!

XV. From “Hughie The Hun & The Menagerie”

If you can keep your head when all about you

keep toucans, sheep, rye bread, a mawl...then shout, Hugh...!
(We'd hoped to hear much more from you -- you kraut, you.)

XVI. From “A Magus Among Us”

I must go down to lonely seas again,

nor trust no clown who'll only sneeze (cayenne!) 
whilst foolin' with his foam-fill’d fountain pen.

XVII. From “The Ballade Of Long Lizzie”*

To be or not to be: that be the quest...

Who's she…? Our hottest B-girl -- Liz: the best...! 
Cures common colds, catarrhs...she'll rub your ████ chest! 

     * One of Jack the Rippers canonical five victims. For more

on Liz, cf. "One for the Ripper" below.

XVIII. From “Peegiad, Canto LIX”

Onward half a league, on half a league... Our

swan's (don't laugh) intrigue; our calf's fatigue...
...show'r God's felicidad 'pon Señor Peeg.* 

     * Senor Beeg Peeg, that is, porcine CEO of Hogmalion.com

XIX. From “Wing One For The Ripper”

Is this a dagger which I see before me…? 
I'll "kiss" each hag or witch, banshee or whore -- me,
vile Stride* -- with such a shiv! Who'd dare ignore me…?

     * Elizabeth, one of Jack the Ripper's canonical five victims. 
If it's true she received her nickname "Long Liz" due to her 
height, then it's likely the appellation 'wee' should be heard 
as ironic. For more on Elizabeth, cf. "The Ballad of Long 
Lizzie" above. 

XX. From “Burn, Bubbeh, Burn!”

Whose woods these are I think I know. Her house (side porch),

her goods, her car (a pink Toyota) dowse, then torch 
I would -- with gas I'd burn the lot. (The louse!) Such scorch!

XXI. From “Scarlett's Pimp…? Or Nell's…?”

The quality of mercy is not strain’d...

So, Doll: Let's see yer purse. Mein Gott! 'Tis stain’d...
Yo’ nylons...? To’n! Yo’ 'ho' expression's pain’d!

XXII. From “Gnutopia”

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan a state

of panda, cuckoo, gnu and swan create.
(Whose pad's in Silver Spring can well relate.)

XXIII. From “Quiet, Basquiat!”

I saw the best minds of my generation

guffaw as, bless’d with gloves (size ten) and Haitian
snuff boxes, they left my island nation.

XXIV. From “Clothes Whores”

O do you know the muffin man…? In muf-

ti new -- behold! -- Sir Muffin pans such stuff -- 
whilst Madame Muffin just can't get enough.

XXV. From "The Last Letter" 

Let's go then, you and I, when evening's spread.

An O, then U 'n' I, then E. A...? Dead!

When butch'ring vowels, they target first the head.

(a work in progress)

Gonna take a sentimental journey...

Be aware. Stay soft and round. Let go...

Nothing could be finer than to be...

Let's go then, you and I, when evening's spread...

Tommy, Tom the piper's son; he stole...

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved...

Mary, Mary, quite contrary; how...

Oh beautiful for spacious skies, for am-...

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day...?

On either side the river lie long fields...

Of man's first disobed'ence, and the fruit...

I will arise and go to Innisfree...

Drink to me, but only with thine eyes...

The curfew tolls the knell of parting day...

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone...

Had we but world enough, and time, coy la-...

All hail to thee, blithe spirit! Bird thou weren't...

I wandered lonely as a cloud that floats...

Tyger! Tyger! Tyger burning bright...

The boy stood on the burning deck; his feet...