Fred Lee Newman, IV Poems

At the Heart of every forest
Lies a clearing green and lush
Where the keepers build their houses
in the boysenberry bush:
...

While expediting on the Nile, I found a beast of curious style.
He rose from out the river’s deep; at once I asked, “Please stop the jeep.”
It seemed at first a river horse, but now this claim I can’t endorse;
For, though his nose was broad and flat, and gaping jaws fed tons of fat,
...

Fairest of all places: the Valley of Gethru –
Full of light and sunny fruit, with a sparkling river, too.
Its gentle slopes were robed in a hundred shades of green;
Every wind-stirred blade and leaf flashed bright with a dewy sheen.
...

They praise the Fireside Poets four:
Wadsworth, Holmes, Whittier, and Lowell,
As they sat by the fire, quill and parchment o'er,
And they carefully formed ev'ry consonant and vowel.
...

As I lay in the hospital bed,
I heard the doctor say,
'With a tumor in his brain, he has
To live but one more day.'
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In Hippocanome lived Old Man Taylor;
On the Ten Minute Skip he was a sailor.
But as he sailed the seven seas,
He all of a sudden began to sneeze.
...

A score and ten: the village men
Who would not yield to Edward,
Took staves and knives and kissed their wives
And marched in earnest westward.
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Lord, deliver us from the fury of the Northmen
Who raid England’s coasts and leave naught but ghosts
In the ruined halls where they’ve been;
Who plunder and torch every barn, house, and porch
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My eyes are closed, my hands are still;
I stand upon a diamond hill.
I see below march nobly by
Tall warriors fair; brave banners fly.
...