Douglas Scotney Poems

Two ways to say
the same thing are:

Both better said
...

Before Spenser,
'feared' was also 'adreaded'.

For rhetoric and rhyme
...

I fell asleep
into a hole the shape of my country.
Looking into that hole at night,
I took the stars to be her cities.
...

Full many a year
flitted I through my wordbook
without alighting on 'fleer' -
to wry your face in contempt.
...

to his P-
to the detriment
of kingly duties and money,
and the kneading it needed
...

'wish-bone' to 'furcula'
and 'flying-fish' to 'ichthy-pter'

and 'straight feather' and 'cockroach'
...

'A fifth, ' you ask,
'was there ever a quinth
or a quinter? '
...

In Bali once,
with a nearby punter,
I bet on a battle between cocks.
It was the biggest cockfight debacle that day.
...

An assumption is made by the advanced
that the other is equally ahead.

When the one finds that the other isn't
...