Poof

Theater sets disassemble quickly,
And for that I am truly glad.
But seeing a lovely set come down
Always makes me a little sad.

Woulda Never

On the train yesterday I heard a woman say “woulda never did that”. She said it twice. It got me thinking because I woulda never said that. I’ll say woulda for would have, but I wouldn’t say did there, and I wouldn’t put the never between the woulda and the done.

I never woulda done that.

That’s the closest I would come in my own habitual grammar.

I would never have done that.

I’d say that, too. But never would I generate:

I would have never done that.

I leave aside the did/done issue.

The linguists love to inform us that everybody has a grammar of some sort, but I wish I understood hers well enough to write a character who speaks that way.

There are forms of English grammar
Which I readily understand
But which I have failed to master -
They don’t rise at my command.

Play Going Well

To the audience, Harvey is invisible,
But his tale is clearly risible.
(We had the audience laughing,
Despite or because of our unseen staffing.)

Observation

Jupiter,
I’ve heard it suggested that you’re stupider
Than Mars.
But tonight
You did look bright,
Outshining all the stars.

Beware of Demotivation

Occasionally I’ve seen it turn out
That over-exercise leads to burn out.

Brisk

I know that Spring is coming,
And it will come to stay,
But due to Local Cooling,
That may not be till May.

Not Sure If This Came Up In Plato's Republic

If rule by one person
Is a monarchy,
Is rule by one swindler
A conarchy?

Fresh Blood

I’m voting for Zuckerberg
For the U.S. Senate.
At least one techie nerd
Ought to be in it.
But don’t get too perturbed.
He’ll never win it.

They Say

They say that poets are crazy
And often off their meds.
They say that poets are lazy
And ought to be working instead.

Such poets sit around thinking
Of making words sound right,
Without an apparent inkling
That surely it’s impolite

To rearrange a sentence
Until it beats like a drum.
You might think I’m due for repentance,
But that day never will come.

For the words in my head
Insist that I write
Till my fingers turn numb.

The Third Symphony As It Happens

So restful to be in an airport
Playing Beethoven, not CNN.
I am a news junkie, of course,
But they air the same story again and again.

In Boston

After a snowstorm gets out of hand
Broken branches litter the land.

Roles by Rote

Some lucky actors are blessed
And find their lines just “stick”.
The rest of us get stressed
And chant them till we’re sick.

Home Opener

"Snow, rain and cold temperatures couldn’t deter White Sox fans from attending the team’s home opener against the Tigers Thursday afternoon."

Chicago in the Spring...
That can mean anything.

Confidant

If you want to keep a secret,
Don’t trust human chat.
That can lead to leakage.
Only tell your cat.

Travelers

Bizarre funny story:

"The Rise in Self-Proclaimed Time Travelers: They’ve come from the future for two reasons: 1) To save us from ourselves; and 2) to make YouTube confessionals"

I find time travel pleasant.
I'm glad it was invented!
Living in the present
Leaves me somewhat discontented.

Lines, Lots of Lines

Went to a rehearsal
But in an odd reversal
I didn’t need to stay
Since I had no lines to say
Not in Act One, anyway
Which is what we were doing today.

(I worked on Acts Two and Three
At home, which suited me.)

Logistics

Mythical bunny needs speedy legs
To haul and hide so many eggs.