Five Wonderful Poems by Ken Gosse

 

A Lion’s Blessing for Man or Beast

 

Please, don’t blame me—I Must eat you!

There’s really nothing I can do,

for I’m a cat (and as to that,

I had no choice): now I’m at bat.

Yet since I find you’ve changed your mind,

I’m not contrary or resigned

to relegate your dreadful fate

to someone you might delegate

to take your place in your last race,

although, my hunger gives me haste

to finish you, so if you do,

make sure it’s quick because your taste

is on my tongue and now among

the forces of the blood which courses

through my veins (for lions’ manes

will stand on end, my dearest friend,

when meals are nigh). You’re one which I

cannot resist, so I insist

that you desist; instead, enlist

your circumstance and join the dance,

because we know time’s just a chance!

Now yours has come,

and that, in sum,

is my farewell to you. 

 

When Rhyme Goes Thump in the Night (a Poemid)

 

Once

 

upon

a time,

 

the stories

we shared had

thoughtful rhyme,

 

but it became

a distraction

as poorly-rhymed

poems caused a

 

painful reaction

with their thud and thump

a kick in the rump;

line after line a

terrible design;

 

monotony assailed

where careful tuning failed,

making us queasier.

But when well-written, tales

where pleasant rhyme prevails

makes sharing easier. 

 

The Student Retailer’s Holiday Blues

 

The days are bleak,

your hours longer;

one more day,

another dollar.

Credit’s weak,

your debt gets stronger;

first you pay—

then scream and holler!

 

Hold fast! Hope

will soon arrive

as Solstice comes—

oh, thank you, sun!

It helps you cope

so you’ll survive

as Earth now strums

another run.

 

And by year’s end

the nights get shorter;

less perplexed

and fewer carts.

Around the bend

you find some order—

then your next

semester starts! 

 

Once Upon a Fall (a Fibonacci poem)

 

A

day

agley,

wandering

free, my foot and knee

decided they would disagree:

each one’s affection taking a different direction,

causing a degree of disconnection which, upon inspection and due reflection,

had interrupted their connection, and the shin bearing the consequence of their sin, whence fractured familial affection might begin,

shot a pain to the brain from within. They instantly stopped and the body quickly dropped,

the knee now wrenched, the brow now drenched (one grabbed and one mopped),

an event which had not been planned,

but the phone at hand

would let the

fallen

call

in. 

 

A Carpenter of a Different Family

 

A walrus and carpenter often would wander

along sandy shores and sometimes would ponder

why carpenters like him (Enhydra—an otter),

though very short-legged, was quite a fast trotter

and yet, his long-toothed, stiffly-whiskered companion,

whose bulk so enormous could fill up a canyon

(Odobenus—genus of family walrus,

confirmed by two reference books and a thesaulrus),

could keep up by tectonic shifts of his bulk

(though not very stealthy, he never could skulk)

alongside his sleek but much shorter cohorter

who shared in their oyster feasts, eating a quarter

of what his pal walrus would down every hour

(a furlong of molluscs they’d quickly devour).

For well-balanced discourse, they’d dine by the water,

but discord prevailed when they played teeter-totter.

Ken Gosse usually writes short, rhymed verse using whimsy and humor in traditional meters. First published in First Literary Review–East in November 2016, he has also been published by Pure Slush, Home Planet News Online, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, and others. Raised in the Chicago, Illinois, suburbs, now retired, he and his wife have lived in Mesa, AZ, for over twenty years, usually with rescue dogs and cats underfoot.