Seven Short Poems by Ken Gosse

A Sweeping Kingdom

 

My Roomba sucks; though not deluxe,

my cats think it’s their Uber.

Through woollen hay they’ll ride all day

delighting each YouTuber.

 

Traversing through synthetic heather,

polyester grass,

yearning for the birds and weather

spied through panes of glass,

 

they’ll purr and whirl, their tails will curl;

the living room’s their beach.

A girl or earl, their paws unfurl

and knock down all in reach.

 

But mostly, they prefer to sleep

atop their rumbly spinner

and there they’ll stay except to keep

appointments with their dinner.

 

 

Calico Tats

 

Each pinprick that’s made

by my calico cat

when confirming his need

to knead me like a mat

after landing with ease

from some flying trapeze

as his Cheshire smile fades

leaves behind a new tat.

 

 

Felinity

 

My kitty will tell me “Meow,”

then washes and takes a slow bow.

She loves me but bites me,

when pet, sometimes fights me,

’cause cats prefer not to kowtow.

 

 

Cataclysm

 

I once had a loveable gerbil

all wiggly and snuggly and verbal.

It’s too bad our cat

thought that it was a rat,

’cause now it is only a furble.

 

 

Sharing the Peanut Butter

 

My pup licked my finger

lickety-split,

with a quick, tickly tongue

that’s too licky to quit.

 

 

Pollywoggles

 

If you were me,

you’d like to be

a pup and then a dog.

But since I’m just

a pollywog,

I guess I’ll be a frog.

 

 

Monty’s Parrot

 

There once was a parrot so dead,

when he talked, he would not move his head.

The shop keep said, “Lord,

he just pines for his fjord

so you can’t have another instead!”

Ken Gosse usually writes short, rhymed verse using whimsy and humour 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.