WHIMSY
the madrigal, volume iii
Desert Rain, Children's Dreams, and Poor People's Good Intentions
by r.w. haynes
Is that hog in my garden again? Son of a gun,
I figured she had learned her lesson last week
When she ate the copy of Homer in Greek
Some drunk left lying there in the sun
A few too many whiskies away from care,
On a slow easy afternoon, lazy, carefree,
And I guess I’m sorry if the party was me,
But I swear I didn’t mean to leave it there.
I hope at least she stepped on some slugs
And took in some wisdom from Homeric Troy.
As she chomped on the Muses’ best pride and joy,
I hope she swallowed a few garden bugs.
This attack came at the Blind Man’s expense,
But now I have to patch up the fence.
R. W. Haynes is Professor of English at Texas A&M International University, where he teaches early British literature and Shakespeare. His recent publications include studies of playwright/screenwriter Horton Foote. In 2016, Haynes received the SCMLA Poetry prize at the Dallas conference of the South Central Modern Language Association. Two books of his poems (Laredo Light and Let the Whales Escape) appeared in the summer of 2019.