Every once in a while the urge to write doggerel just overwhelms a person, and you have to give in. It seemed to happen more often when I had young children in the house.
Basil, Basil, you’re a cat
Never try denying that
Stand up for your kitty mother
Turn your back on no cat brother
When the cat god calls your name,
Let there be no cause for blame.
Future generations all
Will praise the cat that heard the call.
Or how about this ditty, which I associate with Suzanne’s friend Joanna, who must have been visiting when the urge overcame me:
Think how lovely it would be
Living always by the sea
Eating muffins with our tea
And jam.
Finally, when Asakiyume and I were working at a famous management journal and hearing lots of jargon, I used one such hackneyed phrase in a haiku I wrote about a dream Asakiyume described:
Watercolor moon
Grows larger nightly and yet
Is trending downward
My father was his class poet at Princeton, and I think he must be turning over in his grave right now.
