Lives of women all remind us
They can do all that men can.
And departing, leave behind us
Children’s footprints in the sand.
- Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, September 20, 2015
Verse – Thanks to a Longfellow
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Category Archives: verse
Verse – The Ubiquiphone
The Ubiquiphone
The thermometer outside would tell
The temperature, heaven or hell.
The paper brought news.
The neighbors shared views,
But now I just look at my cell.
The mobile that I use instead
Of books that I often had read
Has also replaced,
Has simply erased
The facts that I had in my head.
My computer I never go near–
I’ve not seen my desk for a year.
The next phone that I buy
I’m afraid it will try
To make even my spouse disappear!
- Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, Sept. 13, 2015
Verse – Bedroom Battles
Bedroom Battle
The Groom learned quickly to please
Not pull blankets away from her knees.
But if the Bride takes them, too,
Then all he can do
Is lie there naked and freeze.
- Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, Sept. 13, 2015
Verse (Limerick) – The 20-Year-Old
The 20-Year-Old Video Gamer
His braces and pimples have fled–
His face is now handsome instead–
Yes, and now it appears,
But for all his teen years,
We’ve seen only the back of his head!
20-Year-Old Video Gamer
- Steve Shoemaker, Urbana,IL, Sept. 4, 2015
Verse – Eugene Field…
Eugene Field
is Spinning in his Grave
The computer, smartphone, and iPad too
Are all that this child could want.
With Clash of Clans, and Auto-Theft 2,
I’ll always be so smart
School studies can suffer–no homework tonight–
I might watch a little TV,
But my brain is exploding, I’m feeling all right,
There’s nothing the matter with me,
I’m happy as I can be:
With computer,
Smartphone
And Pad.
Now Mother and Father will sputter and fuss–
They don’t understand at all.
For Granny and Gramps said, “Read! You Must!
Or all your grades will fall!”
But we take exams on computers at school,
No notes, but txts we snd!
The Principal axed the No Gizmos rule
So our school-wide strike would end–
“Unions Forever, my friend!”
With computer,
Smartphone,
And Pad!
- Steve Shoemaker, September 2, 2015
- NOTE: Click HERE to read Garrison Keillor’s Writer’s Almanac posting on Eugene Fields, author of such poems as “Wynken, Blinken, and Nod”.
Verse – Clandestine Communication
We used to pass notes while in school,
The teachers said “No! There’s a rule!”
But students today
Will have their own say:
A smart phone helps them play the fool!
- Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, August 29, 2015
Verse – Old Friends
Old Friends
New information
From impeccable sources
Has twisted our memories
Lowered our esteem
Even given us a taste of disgust
But what have they heard about us
- Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, August 26, 2015
Limerick – From Illinois
From Illinois to Topsail Island
The sea has been calm and the wind has been light,
The beach house is perfect, the families all right.
We saw dolphins swimming,
The Cubs have been winning,
But the kids all keep asking, “Just where is your kite?”
- Steve Shoemaker, on extended-family vacation, Topsail Island, NC, August 19, 2015
Steve’s kite on Topsail Island
Verse – Slipping
slipping
one toe out
tentatively
bring it
back
shame
leap forward
fear
cower coward
SUCCESS
temporarily
start over
– Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, May 12, 2015,
Verse – The Cavity
The broken tooth hurt only when I would
breathe in. The air across the exposed nerve
sent electricity up to my head.
My wife of fifty years asked, “Do you have
some chewing gum? Use it to cover up
the hole until the Dentist calls you back.”
It worked. I took two aspirin with a cup
of water (warm, because she said the shock
of cold would make me scream.) Then I
could breathe,
inhale, and feel no pain. I snuck into
the kitchen and found that I could leave
the gum in place and eat ice cream. (When you
Grater’s ice cream
have lost half of your own Sweet Tooth and still
cannot resist more sugar–you’re in hell.)
- Steve Shoemaker, Urbana, IL, August 8, 2015
Views from the Edge 