David Plantinga Poems

King Agamemnon raised a wind
When the whole fleet had lain becalmed.
He'd sacrificed, and hadn't qualmed.
From horror he could not rescind.
...

A vegetable sufficiently boiled
And buttered and salted and oiled
Can taste just like meat
Off a parakeet
...

It's lovely to live on a boat
So mobile a dwelling and remote,
But beaching in sand
To dock on dry land,
...

In welcome old Fido is barking
But cats are too haughty for marking
If tenants are home,
Or off on a roam.
...

Although that shadow's tread was light
And its cold presence absence massed,
A darker darkness to contrast,
A hole in the black cloak of night,
...

You're crying out against your sin
Because you're standing on the shore
Aware your guilt is so much more
Than your acknowledged ramekin.
...

Not everyone who suffers sins,
Yet blessed with a long life, I've strayed
An ingrate and a renegade,
And condign punishment begins.
...

A wretched soul, unclean in thought
And act, I could never dare
Demand forgiveness as what's fair
Or mercy as a favor bought.
...

Have I wronged you, my former friends,
Or murdered a dear wife or child,
That bitter hatred goes so wild
Against the wretch it reprehends.
...

Impatient, a lion will roar
And kitty's meowing at the door,
Because paws are fumbling;
At doorknobs it's grumbling.
...