Dr. Mom

I am the very model of a medical practitioner,
And there are even those who claim that I am a magicioner.
Some doctors like to give you tests and some will throw the book at you,
But I know what your problem is the moment that I look at you!

My annotated pharmacopia is always by my side.
I know a lot of remedies that you have never even tried!
There's not a system in your carcass that is not old news to me:
Before I go to sleep at night, I read from Gray's anatomy!

Whenever you are out of sorts, I'll respond with alacrity.
In urgent situations I would even give you ECT!
In short, in pharmaceutical and surgical and herbal lore
I am the very model of the medic you are looking for.

I'll diagnose your every ill and I won't even charge a fee.
With earnest concentration I could execute brain surgery!
In mysteries of medicine there is no knowledge that I lack:
I've researched every malady, for I'm a hypochondriac!


(A Gilbert & Sullivan parody, which has been performed in public in the context of a summer camp skit, and has been published in a little book of Northern Ontario poetry.)

Bagatelle for a Literary Friend

Words...
Scooped up, pitched
like snowballs.
Was that a hit?
A face, a leg, a private place?
Laughter.
No rocks, please.

So many words.
Touching without touching,
reaching,
finding just one pattern,
six sides.

You tell me I'm a labyrinth
of endless rooms to lose yourself.
I say, hold hands.

(Published in Valley Writers Guild
"Gristmill" 1998)

Escape

humming on the platform
watching for the train
far from comforts of home

past collides with future
in clouds of pixie dust
dissolving dragons
ransacked compartments
dirty toilets
stained upholstery
or maybe
something serendipitous
brand new

no scripts
no fears
no overdrafts
all gone

Veneer

I never noticed the plastic
building up
layer by silent layer--
I was too busy
unearthing new worlds
to remodel.

Creatrix, disruptrix,
lighting up my universe
with dazzling smiles,
no second guesses.

Ouch!
Why did I let you touch me?
You scratched my veneer!