A. Gee Where words collide

Poems

The 300 (th Poem)

Valiant defenders of the West
Stopping Xerxes at Thermopylae
But it’s not where your brave bodies lie
Tales of your most consequential quest

With us to this day, the Spartans said
On your shield, or with it, so you must
Strike to kill and win, with every thrust
Victory is yours, or you are dead

Were your bodies burned, or carried home
Ashes scattered in Elysian fields
Where your spirits proudly still roam
Sparta will forever bear your shields

Author notes: for my 300th poem, an attempt to capture the famous story of The 300

The Big Lebowski

I sense a fragrance rarely smelled –
In flower shops or fields -
Infrequently on ferries
Much rarer in these yields

Inebriate of air – am I –
And devotee of brew
Reeling – through endless summer days—
And sometimes, Mountain Dew

Landlord’s evicting, back due rent
And I’m out the door
Enough of his incessant drums
I won’t live here no more!

The graduates might throw their hats
And rappers grab their junk
But I will keep on worshipping
The sweet smell of the skunk.

Author notes: Patterned on Emily Dickenson's I taste a liquor never brewed I taste a liquor never brewed (214) Emily Dickinson - 1830-1886 I taste a liquor never brewed — From Tankards scooped in Pearl — Not all the Frankfort Berries Yield such an Alcohol! Inebriate of air — am I — And Debauchee of Dew — Reeling — thro' endless summer days — From inns of molten Blue — When "Landlords" turn the drunken Bee Out of the Foxglove's door — When Butterflies — renounce their "drams" — I shall but drink the more! Till Seraphs swing their snowy Hats — And Saints — to windows run — To see the little Tippler Leaning against the — Sun!