Howard Camner Poems

It looks like something a stegosaurus might drop
but the truth is, nobody knows what it is
Wilma calls it 'banana bread'
She makes it herself
...

She sits on her throne of mah jongg tiles
and passes judgment on you and me

She's got 13 orphans on a rack
...

He always wants to know how you are
then he wants to know how you're not
His wallet is thick
but his skin is thin
...

It was back then when
I first saw you
unsure
unloved
...

I wiggle my fingers like they're people
only smarter
and she laughs to clear the clouds
...

Mama Chung wags her tongue
with strings strung when spring's sprung

That Mama Chung with hands wrung
...

She's a low-rent Lolita
in her wisdom wig
when she works her way to Why
...

I watch him through the glass
because I'm not allowed in
He runs and jumps and tumbles with the others
and never acknowledges me
...

No one's sure how she got the job
Some say it was a train wreck
Others claim Old Scratch lost his queen
Either way, she keeps the place immaculately clean
...

Physically I lean right
Politically I lean left

But I'm no pushover
...