Claims And Issues

THE STORIES WE TELL, a politely veiled fictional Florida poem.

(Mary Altaffer/ Associated Press)

(With apologies to Paul Simon, whose song "Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard" was an inspiration for this brief poem.)

 

I'm on my way, I don't know where I'm goin',

I'm on my way, takin' my time, but I don't know where,

Good bye Rinaldo, King of Bologna,

Singin' me and Rinaldo down by the schoolyard.

 

Kids in schoolrooms yearning to breathe free,

White kids and Black kids learn all about White people,

Who never were,

Singin' me and Rinaldo down by the schoolyard.

 

Fiction and fantasy embedded in the curricula

Of Florida's schools On pain of death or what is worse,

Losing your job in the hodgepodge,

Singin' me and Rinaldo down by the schoolyard.

 

There is no end, it keeps on goin',

It's on its way but I don't know where,

Hello Rinaldo, King of the Pattycake,

Singin' me and Rinaldo down by the schoolyard.

 

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2023 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

 

Today is not only Thanksgiving, it is my Anniversary!  I remembered the date thanks to my wife, I have to say!  Have a good day today.  It's special.  Give thanks and joy.

"Somebody Told Her She Could"

by Dennis Wall.  An Ode to a Post-Polio Champion, my Wife Dianne.

Inspired by Edgar Albert Guest's poem, "It Couldn't Be Done" ("he tackled the thing that couldn't be done, and he did it!").

 

Somebody told her she could

And she with conviction replied

That she could and she would.

 

There were thousands to tell her

She was different from them all,

Their lives paused by a fall.

 

Success where some did not try,

She from her birth all through her life

Stood tall after she fell.

 

Somebody told her she could

She from birth heard it often enough

That she could, and she did.

-30- The End.

This blog ©2022 by Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

ACCOUNTABLE. ACCOUNTABILITY. JUNE 29, 2022.

A poem in celebration of the bravery and the testimony on display at the 1/6 Committee Hearing on Tuesday, June 28, 2022.

By

Dennis Wall

Have you ever tried to rhyme "accountable"?

The odds against it are nearly insurmountable.

But wait!  Accountability is possible, here and there

Accountability can be found everywhere

Including in  a poem, you see!

Except, perhaps,  in Washington, D.C.

Please read the disclaimer.  ©2022 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

A FORMLESS PANDEMIC POEM

A FORMLESS PANDEMIC POEM

by

Dennis Wall

 

The boxes have all been emptied today

What was inside, is outside and here to stay.

 

That is where I was going to stop

This poem, not living.

It's plain this gift keeps on giving:

Not poem, not life, stop.

 

After the boxes I tackled the newspaper pile

Went online, read and tweeted for awhile

Locked the double gate after the pool man came and went

Next comes cable guy, a person Spec sent.

 

Was going to ledger the debits

This week for sprinklers and plumbing

But I'd already crunched those digits.

(The fence too;  nails sang with drumming.)

 

So it's on through the day remaining,

Yet wait I hear but do not see more --

Don't know what is coming,  

but it's coming, that's sure.

P.S.

I also wrote this poem.

Don't fold your cards, show 'em.

 

LIMERICKS FOR THE LAW AND 2020.

LIMERICKS FOR THE LAW AND 2020.

by Dennis J. Wall.

©2020 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

 

THE COURT.

The Court is of the jurist variety,

One time rules for all;  another, minority.

 

OGDEN NASH'S "THE FIREFLY"* IN 2020.

Fireflies used to light the night.

To me, there's nothing eerier

Than extinguishing the light

On a person's posterior.

*Inspired by a poem, "The Firefly," written by Mr. Ogden Nash.  However, aside from the rhymes between the second and fourth lines the poem you read here is my own responsibility; for better or for worse, it is my verse.

©2020 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

FOR THE BEST OF US ABOUT THE WORST OF US.

A new poem for the first year of the pandemic.

 

YOHO, YOHO, A/AN  [FILL IN YOUR CHOSEN NOUN]'S

LIFE FOR ME.

by

Dennis Wall

©2020 Dennis J. Wall.  All rights reserved.

There once was a creature named Yoho

He wasn't from Brooklyn, the Bronx, or Soho

He may not even know anyone there

Nor do we know what has become of his hair.

Contact tracing found him in the South

But he came North, and he brought his mouth.

Oh, sure, we can quote the man from Queens

Who sometimes maybe says what he means

"Go back where you came from!"

Yo don't know whence he's come

But he'll find his way 'cause he left a trail

Doesn't rely on bread crumbs, but fills a pail.

Alas poor Yoho.   That ends our tale.

-The end-