All writing

Parents named me Abel.
Changed it to Cain
when I was able

Author notes: WC 12 Can, Cain, Abel, able https://allpoetry.com/contest/2782581-first-name-change-brevity

‘tis often said:
there are no atheists in foxholes
Ask yourself:
who sent them to convert?

Paradise was invented
because every parasite
needs a host

Author notes: The title of course is a play on Milton's Paradise Lost, the host of angels in heaven, and poem of course plays on the transposed pun similarity between paradise and parasite.

The price of competition’s steep
If you are battling Meryl Streep
Oh dear the gowns, the dinner winks
Go with that lizard to get “drinks”
No actress, even with great voice
Wants to compete with Sophie’s Choice
And truly, who can even blame her
Compete with Kramer versus Kramer??
Oh, Dianne Wiest had hoped to catch her
Then Meryl clones old Maggie Thatcher
So let’s be fair, no one comes close
Sometimes there is only one rose

Author notes: https://allpoetry.com/contest/2783430-Paying-Respect-to-Academy-Experts---Actress

A proud droplet of Lancaster blood
surrounded by an army of Yorks
She conquers

Author notes: WC 14 https://allpoetry.com/contest/2783580-Brevity-Writers---15-words-or-less---Rose-noguest

Puppy love
indeed conquers all

Author notes: https://allpoetry.com/contest/2783519-5-words---Advice-to-someone-who-doesnt-like

To cigarettes I’ve left unsmoken
To women I have failed to bed
To gluttony I gladly shed
To ugly truths I’ve left unspoken

To mediocre jobs I’ve done
To roads I could but had not taken
To drinks, however stirred, not shaken
To trophies that I hadn't won

I’m here today to celebrate you
You, all of you, deserve this toast
You are so few, but I don't hate you
Permit me, though, this little roast

Author notes: 3. What is your advice to young writers?” “Drink, f**k and smoke plenty of cigarettes. Charles Bukowski https://allpoetry.com/contest/2783529-Quotes-on-alcohol-drunkenness

If laughter is the best medicine
Can it get covered by health insurance?
I'll send them a bill for my limericks

Author notes: WC 21

Your birthday, you ask for a pet
And hope that your mom won’t forget
You wanted that puppy
Instead it’s a guppy
There won’t be a need for a vet

Remind mom that she is a yuppy
And sure, you can start with a guppy
But her friends have pooches
So, here are some smooches
Please bring home a cute little puppy

Author notes: https://allpoetry.com/contest/2783536-Quick-contest--aquarium-fish

It's been four years
since I showed up
an unannounced visitor.
Finally, they've welcomed me
into their house

Author notes: That's an actual pick from my backyard. https://allpoetry.com/contest/2783545-Sit-in-our-chair--write-a-poem--4

He’s both in the hat – and is not
Our marvelous, Schrödinger’s Cat
To know it, just open a book
You can’t know till you take a look

Your children thought they’re equal, equal once
Now all that disappeared, your children must be told,
Strong, rich and capable, but fair to each?
As challenged as the Earth in Freedom, Law and Love,
A struggling experiment, helpless Mother,
Please! Please withstand the test of Time.

Author notes: The original America poem by Walt Whitman: Centre of equal daughters, equal sons, All, all alike endear’d, grown, ungrown, young or old, Strong, ample, fair, enduring, capable, rich, Perennial with the Earth, with Freedom, Law and Love, A grand, sane, towering, seated Mother, Chair’d in the adamant of Time. https://allpoetry.com/contest/2779805-Win--50-Walt-Whitman---write-a-poem-in-his-