Comment on Willie Nelson's arrest for mariquana

So what if marijuana is dope?
A number of us need it to cope
Ole Willie should have wait
Till he was in a legal state
Texas has not gone down that slippery slope

"To My Valentine" by Ogden Nash

"The Sunset Years of Samuel Shy" by Ogden Nash

Alice Masci Ode to my Food (to the tune of Bette Midler's song)

Did you ever know you were my dinner?
And everything I would like to eat
I can eat you and still get thinner
"Cuz you are the sauce beneath my wings

Black English by Type A

"Ain't nobody can say where he at."
"Dem Ice Creams be smoov, man; dey phat."
"Dis bling bling be onyx."
I'm hooked on Ebonics:
Black English be cool. Dat be dat.
African American Vernacular English (AAVE), also known colloquially as Ebonics or Black English, is a dialect spoken primarily in the 'hood and is used extensively in rap music.

Translation of lines 1–3:
Nobody knows where he is.
Those athletic shoes are smooth (really good); they're cool.
This jewelry is made of onyx.

FAULTY DESIGNER by Gerald Bosacker

Perfection looms in God’s design,

yet I question the porcupine.
...
Fierce mosquitoes we sure don’t need,

and hungry fleas are mean to feed.

I don’t expect He’d plan for junk,

but then I wonder why the skunk.

Why did God build so many fools,

or did he lose construction rules.

Maybe God makes some boo boos too,

so he’s patient with me and you.

George Bernard Shaw "I dread being drunk"

W. E. Henley" Invictus "

Jacket by Miles Liss

I have a jacket
That my mother gave me
After my grandfather died
I don't know how she got her hands on it
They must have gone
Through his stuff
The aunts and uncles
And I came out
With the jacket
Or maybe my grandmother said,
"Here, take this. Give it
To your son."
I don't know

I do know
I've had it
Since he's been dead
Thirteen years now
And though I've
Gained a pound
For every year
Despite going to the gym
It still fits me.
"Your grandfather was heavy, too,"
My mother says.
"When he went on a diet,
He ate nothing but carrots
All day.
Try them. You might like them."

I remember breaking
The zipper
And my stepfather making
A new one
From a strip of leather
And some string
He's gone now, too
But that stip of leather
Still holds

It's a winter jacket
So I put it in the
Closet every spring
And forget about it
Until the winter
When it comes out again
And I am, again,
Reminded of my
Grandfather

I can see him now
Sitting in his
La-Z-Boy
Watching TV with
Us
Or driving me
Around St. Louis
He loved to drive
Felt at home behind
The wheel

Once, when we were
In the car together,
He said, "I want to
Live long enough
To dance at my grandson's
Wedding."
I didn't know what
He was talking about
I was too young to
Comprehend mortality,
But Grandpa, you
Live through this jacket
Each and every day
I wear it
And I promise
To bring it to
My wedding, if
I ever should get
Married, and
Dance

Palmer Cox The Brownies in the Toy Shop

This is one of the finest poems I ever read! I hope you enjoy it too!

As shades of evening settled down,
The Brownies rambled through the town,
To pry at this, to pause at that,
By something else to hold a chat,
And in their free and easy vein
Express themselves in language plain

At length before a store, their eyes
Were fixed with wonder and surprise
On toys of wood, and wax, and tin,
And toys of rubber piled within.
Said one, "In all our wandering 'round,
A sight like this we never found.
When such a passing glimpse we gain,
What wonders must the shelves contain!"

Another said, "It must be here
Old Santa Claus comes every year
To gather up his large supply,
When Christmas Eve is drawing nigh,
That children through the land may find
They still are treasured in his mind."

A third remarked, "Ere long he may
Again his yearly visit pay;
Before he comes to strip the place,
We'll rummage shelf, and box, and case,
Until the building we explore
From attic roof to basement floor,
And prove what pleasure may be found
In all the wonders stowed around."

Not long were they content to view
Through dusty panes those wonders new;
And, in a manner quite their own,
They made their way through wood and stone.

And then surprises met the band,
In odd conceits from every land.
Well might the Brownies stand and stare
At all the objects crowded there!
Here, things of gentle nature lay
In safety, midst the beasts of prey;
The goose and fox,a friendly pair,
Reposed beside the lamb and bear.

There horses stood for boys to ride;
Here boats were waiting for the tide,
While ships of war, with every sail
Unfurled,were anchored to a nail;
There soldiers stood in warlike bands;
And naked dolls held out their hands,
As though to urge the passers-by
To take them from the public eye.
This way and that, the Brownies ran;
To try the toys they soon began.

The Jack-in-box,so quick and strong,
with staring eyes and whiskers long,
Now o'er and o'er was set and sprung
Until the scalp was from it flung;
And then they crammed him in his case,
With wig and night-cap in their place,
To give some customer a start
When next the jumper flew apart.
The trumpets, drums, and weapons bright
Soon filled them all with great delight.

Like troops preparing for their foes,
In single ranks and double rows,
They learned the arts of war as told
By printed books and veterans old;
With swords of tin and guns of wood,
They wheeled about, and marched or stood
And went through skirmish drill and all,
From room to room by bugle-call;
The music-box poured forth an air
That charmed the dullest spirits there,
Till, yielding to the pleasing sound,
They danced with dolls a lively round.

There fish was working tail and fin
In seas confined by wood and tin;
The canvas shark and rubber whale
Seemed ill content in dish or pail,
And leaping all obstructions o'er
Performed their antics on the floor.

More gave the singing tops no rest--
But kept them spinning at their best
Until some wonder strange and new
To other points attention drew.

Some found at marbles greatest fun,
And still they played, and still they won,
Until they claimed as winners, all
The shop could furnish, large and small.

The rocking-horse that wildly rose,
Now on its heels, now on its nose,
Was forced to bear so great a load,
It seemed to founder on the road,
Then tumble feebly to the floor,
Never to lift a rocker more.

'Twas hardly missed in such a store,
With wonders fairly running o'er;
To something else about the place
The happy Brownie turned his face,
And only feared the sun would call
Before he had his sport with all.

Thus through the shop in greatest glee,
They rattled 'round, the sights to see,
Till stars began to dwindle down,
And morning crept into the town.
And then with all the speed they knew,
Away to forest shades they flew.

Gerald Bosacker MY CHOCOLATE CHOICE

I shall never die of cancer.

Sweet Chocolate will finish me,

This self-destruction answer,

won’t leave me deep in poverty.

I’ll gladly let my waistline bulge,

and not restock my self drug shelf.

With Hershey poisons I’ll indulge

and with kisses, embalm myself.

Gerald Bosacker EXTINCTION CALLS

WHO WILL BE GONE FIRST?
I knew we're genetically linked
and told this Ape, and he just blinked.
Maybe he’s wise and slyly winked,
knowing we're soon, to be extinct.

William Shakespeare "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow"

Guy Boas" The Vet "

Robert Louis Stevenson" The vagabond"

William Cullen Bryant "Thanatopsis"

Thanatopsis.......................

O him who in the love of Nature holds
Communion with her visible forms, she speaks
A various language; for his gayer hours
She has a voice of gladness, and a smile
And eloquence of beauty, and she glides
Into his darker musings, with a mild
And healing sympathy, that steals away
Their sharpness, ere he is aware. When thoughts
Of the last bitter hour come like a blight
Over thy spirit, and sad images
Of the stern agony, and shroud, and pall,
And breathless darkness, and the narrow house,
Make thee to shudder and grow sick at heart;--
Go forth, under the open sky, and list
To Nature's teachings, while from all around--
Earth and her waters, and the depths of air--
Comes a still voice--Yet a few days, and thee
The all-beholding sun shall see no more
In all his course; nor yet in the cold ground,
Where thy pale form was laid with many tears,
Nor in the embrace of ocean, shall exist
Thy image. Earth, that nourish'd thee, shall claim
Thy growth, to be resolved to earth again,
And, lost each human trace, surrendering up
Thine individual being, shalt thou go
To mix for ever with the elements,
To be a brother to the insensible rock,
And to the sluggish clod, which the rude swain
Turns with his share, and treads upon. The oak
Shall send his roots abroad, and pierce thy mould.

Dylan Thomas "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night"

Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night...........

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Incoherence

--By Horatio Algeranon

Contradiction
Is an affliction
Born of fiction
And addiction.

Incoherence
Has adherents
And the appearance
Of interference.

Abject denial
So much in style
Thrives on guile
And lots of bile.

Conspiracy,
It's plain to see,
Is certainly
Considered key.

William Shatner, "The Raven" by Poe

Rudyard Kipling " A Smuggler's Song"

Joseph Rudyard Kipling (30 December 1865 18 January 1936) was an English author and poet. Born in Bombay, British India (now Mumbai), he is best known for his works The Jungle Book (1894) and Rikki-Tikki-Tavi (1902), his novel, Kim (1901); his poems, including Mandalay (1890), Gunga Din (1890), If— (1910); and his many short stories, including The Man Who Would Be King (1888). He is regarded as a major "innovator in the art of the short story";[2] his children's books are enduring classics of children's literature; and his best works speak to a versatile and luminous narrative gift.[3][4]

Kipling was one of the most popular writers in English, in both prose and verse, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Kind Regards

Jim Clark
All rights are rsserved on this video recording copyright Jim Clark 2010

A Smugglers Song......

If you wake at midnight, and hear a horse's feet,
Don't go drawing back the blind, or looking in the street.
Them that ask no questions isn't told a lie.
Watch the wall, my darling, while the Gentlemen go by!
Five and twenty ponies,
Trotting through the dark -
Brandy for the Parson,
'Baccy for the Clerk;
Laces for a lady, letters for a spy,
And watch the wall, my darling, while the Gentlemen go by!
Running round the woodlump if you chance to find
Little barrels, roped and tarred, all full of brandy-wine,
Don't you shout to come and look, nor use 'em for your play.
Put the brishwood back again - and they'll be gone next day!
If you see the stable-door setting open wide;
If you see a tired horse lying down inside;
If your mother mends a coat cut about and tore;
If the lining's wet and warm - don't you ask no more!
If you meet King George's men, dressed in blue and red,
You be careful what you say, and mindful what is said.
If they call you "pretty maid," and chuck you 'neath the chin,
Don't you tell where no one is, nor yet where no one's been!
Knocks and footsteps round the house - whistles after dark -
You've no call for running out till the house-dogs bark.
Trusty's here, and Pincher's here, and see how dumb they lie -
They don't fret to follow when the Gentlemen go by!
If you do as you've been told, 'likely there's a chance,
You'll be given a dainty doll, all the way from France,
With a cap of Valenciennes, and a velvet hood -
A present from the Gentlemen, along o' being good!
Five and twenty ponies,
Trotting through the dark -
Brandy for the Parson,
'Baccy for the Clerk;
Them that asks no questions isn't told a lie -
Watch the wall, my darling, while the Gentlemen go by.