Gee, Professor Hill,
Gary isn’t anything
Like you made it sound!
Bounding Way Across
The wide Missouri wasn’t, really,
At least where I chose to ford it.
Folk song lyricists are silly,
Though, so Shenandoah’s ignored it.
Well Spotted
A year ago I bought a plant
That was an alcoholic cat.
I’d like to say I’ve learned, but can’t:
It’s rooted to my lap. That’s that.
Antilocapra Americana
The pronghorn’s not an antelope.
We often call it that, but nope,
It’s closest relatives — don’t laugh —
Include okapi and giraffe,
And all Antilocapridae
Have gone extinct except for they,
Like dinosaurs and low-priced gas.
Try not to scowl as they pass
Your gasping car at 50 per,
White bellies and brown backs a blur
Against the dusty hills they’re roaming
Nigh the byways of Wyoming
And adjacent high plains states,
White tails in place of license plates
And bi-pronged horns that rarely beep:
You’ll catch them next time gas is cheap.
How To Keep A Streak Alive
When you’ve forgotten
What you’d planned to write about
Write it anyway
Animal Househusbandry
Grizzly bears appreciate
Your leaving cleaning up till late
And stringing up your food-filled sacks
At bedtime (not before). Free snacks!
Alaska?
When in Idaho
Do as Idahoans do
Which is…I dunno.
What’s Your 20? (Day 1)
Newport, Ore. to Boston, Mass. is
U.S. 20, end-to-start,
And in between the highway passes
Through this fractured country’s heart.
Mile Zero clear to Mile
Three thousand three sixty-five,
There’s that many things to smile at
On this nice country drive.
Cardinal Rules
I take a lot of pictures of
The sun just barely up above
Horizons, either making way
For night or lighting up the day.
The difference, if it matters, is
Its target on the compass, viz.,
Toward north when east and south when west.
Remember that: It’s on the test.
Haik
Some moths have no mouths
Which explains their outsized balls:
Moths do not need U.
