David Plantinga

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.
...

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,
...

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

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

A spinster from Flint once opined
In her day the suitors were kind.
Though sister was gone,
They didn't stay long.
...

A farmer from Farmington sowed
His hectares with freckle of toad.
When asked what would sprout
He hadn't a doubt
...

The scaup is searching for a shore
To build her nest, a lonely beach,
Or rocky cliff no fox can reach.
Egg-gobblers and roosting mothers war.
...

The ancients put tremendous matters
On oracles and auguries.
When godhood speaks, the priest agrees.
Glib cunning fails when trouble batters.
...

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

Though cue-balls are glossy and smooth
The felt has been rough since my youth.
Some dimples assist
When fairways resist
...

A huckster from Huxby displayed
His circus of fleas to any who paid.
A bug on a trapeze
Can soar with such ease
...

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.
...

A matron of Memphis poured toffee
In water and orange juice and coffee.
Her drinks were so sweet
She thought them a treat,
...

He's cruel and stupid, and ignores
His omened doom, pronounced, decreed,
And mine with his, no ranted screed.
Though I must speak, I pray it bores.
...

According to astrology,
The stars arrange themselves to bind
The destinies of humankind
Born under their hegemony.
...

My heart is sinking down like lead
Within my chest, and recent grief
Is poisoning my past belief,
Fading, if not discredited.
...