A Dog, a Pocketknife, a Twenty-Two
For Jared Allen Brandon, of Happy Memory
And Jared Walker Bess
A dog, a pocketknife, a twenty-two
The rightful possessions of every Texas lad
For working out the values he must live up to
The virtues that he learned from his solid ol’ Dad
A dog, a pocketknife, a twenty-two
Self-discipline, honest friends, a manly stride
A quiet voice that’s sturdy, firm, and true
A man of accomplishment and quiet pride
For you remember your own boyhood, yes, you do –
A dog, a pocketknife, a twenty-two
A Tribute to Gussie Fink-Nottle
From an idea suggested by W. K. Kortas
Now be ye all upstanding, and charge your drinks
And let us lift a glass of orange juice
To all inebriated newt fanciers
(And God bless Market Snodsbury Grammar School)
And of all inebriated new fanciers
None is fancier than Gussie Fink-Nottle
None better with the newts, none worse with the girls
(And God bless Market Snodsbury Grammar School)
God bless the newts in Trafalgar fountain and pool
(And God bless Market Snodsbury Grammar School)
A Child’s Garden of Worse(s)
“Some poets wrote verses which were not meant to charm the reader but to get them a Stalin prize.”
Yevtushenko, A Precocious Autobiography, 1963
The children who are permitted to live
Are not permitted to read what they want
When they ask for adventures our censors give
Ideology, instead of a jaunt
The children who are not submissive to the code
Not following this week’s fashions in science
Or who presume to kick against the goad
Will be inclusively loved into compliance
And from the Hippocrene a taste, a drink?
Oh, no! Children are now forbidden to dream or think
A Snow Globe and a Discarded Child
A dreaming child peers into a little glass dome
Where snow falls upon a tiny world:
A mountain, a forest, a tunnel, a village, a train
A kingdom where there is safety and love
He cradles it in his hand lest it be lost
Among the emotional wreckage of lying adults
Cold pizza, unexplained screams from the other room
300 channels of satellite tv
A beaten child peers into that magic dome
And wishes that somehow it might be his home
Halftime Show – A James Bond Medley
Arrangement by Cliff Clash, B.A., M.Ed,
Choreography by Cliff Clash, B.A., M.Ed,
And Ms. Feather Dream Jones-Clash, B.A.
In a dinner jacket from the theatre club
A sophomore spy-dances among the twirlers
Along the fifty-yard line all sodden with
The stench of muck and summer-sodden heat
The sodium lights cast a wicked glare
Upon the field and the concession stand
Where snackers in cartoon tees ignore
The blat of the tubas, the boom of the drums
The polyester uniforms now march away
While James Bond coughs in clouds of mosquito spray
Love Against Chaos
Chaos – when a child doesn’t have a bed for sleep
Good meals for nourishment, peace every day
Books of her very own to read and keep
Parents and friends, a few toys for play –
But when you make a child safe and warm for the night
And give her breakfast at the family table
Daily lessons for instruction and delight
A few easy chores, as far as she is able
And all in a home ruled with blessings and love
You give that child a happy life
And you give Chaos a shove
Scholarship Applications as Existential Despair
I made all AS in honors english
Shopping, video games, hanging with my friends
I am active in my cruch. And sunday school
Shopping, video games, hanging with my friends
Shopping, video games, hanging with my friends
I like hunting deer. And my family
Shopping, video games, hanging with my friends
I go out to much for anytime for hobbies
Shopping, video games, hanging with my friends –
My powerful quest of excellence never ends
LogoSophia Magazine 