David Plantinga

King Agamemnon raised a wind
When the whole fleet had lain becalmed.
He'd sacrificed, and hadn't qualmed.
From horror he could not rescind.
...

A vegetable sufficiently boiled
And buttered and salted and oiled
Can taste just like meat
Off a parakeet
...

Although that shadow's tread was light
And its cold presence absence massed,
A darker darkness to contrast,
A hole in the black cloak of night,
...

When the nimble aphids are leaping
And squat caterpillars are creeping
They're fleeing on before
The mower's starting roar,
...

Hospitable airport motels serve
Continental breakfast. It takes nerve
To think some continent
Serves food not fit for Lent.
...

It's lovely to live on a boat
So mobile a dwelling and remote,
But beaching in sand
To dock on dry land,
...

In welcome old Fido is barking
But cats are too haughty for marking
If tenants are home,
Or off on a roam.
...

Though cue-balls are glossy and smooth
The felt has been rough since my youth.
Some dimples assist
When fairways resist
...

A huckster from Huxby displayed
His circus of fleas to any who paid.
A bug on a trapeze
Can soar with such ease
...

The scaup is searching for a shore
To build her nest, a lonely beach,
Or rocky cliff no fox can reach.
Egg-gobblers and roosting mothers war.
...

The ancients put tremendous matters
On oracles and auguries.
When godhood speaks, the priest agrees.
Glib cunning fails when trouble batters.
...

Because ankles are bound to get hot
In underwear collars why not
Raise up the stall door,
To ventilate more?
...

A top hat that skims on its brim
And cars built with wheels that don't spin
Vault from Baltic to Ventnor,
Streets you don't pay rent for.
...

It's fun to collect money for passing
Go but ahead hotels are massing.
Competitors bought
The railroads. You're caught!
...

Hasbro makes a Monopoly game
Durable because sometimes we blame
The board for our troubles.
We never roll doubles!
...

Because a losing player tosses
Monopoly boards and their houses
Sharp corners await
Mom in her bare feet.
...

Because light and durable dinnerware
Is low-class and not debonair,
The china that shatters,
Those slippery platters,
...

This heirloom china wants to slip
Out of my tremulous grip.
But plastic's less heavy,
And nicely holds gravy.
...

Because plates are little and shallow
A buffet should provide a fellow
A bus tub instead,
One made out of bread,
...

Two neighbors from Naseby compete
Whenever they pour some wet concrete
Whose sidewalk will dry
First, or is it a tie?
...