Classic Poem

1

Imperious Muse, your arrows ever strike
When there's some urgent duty I dislike.

2

By the cold glow that lit my husband's eye
I could read what page eight had said to try.

3

To Someone Who Insisted I Look Up Someone

I rang them up while touring Timbuctoo,
Those bosom chums to whom you're known as " Who? "

4

Parody: Herrick

When Vestalina's thin white hand cuts cheese
The very mice go down upon their knees.

5

The Minotaur's Advice

Unravel hope, but be not by it led,
Or back outside you shall hang by a thread.

6

On his wife's stone, though small in cost and small,
Meek got a word in edgewise after all.

7

Translator

They say he knows, who renders Old High Dutch,
His own tongue only, and of it not much.

8

To a Now-type Poet

Your stoned head's least whim jotted down white-hot?
Enough confusion of my own, I've got.

9

At a Sale of Manuscript

Who deal in early drafts and casual words
Would starve the horse to death and prize his turds.

10

To a Young Poet

On solemn asses fall plush sinecures,
So keep a straight face and sit tight on yours.