I have been accused of being a poet, but I am not. I am a simple five and dime rhymer. I have been asked how I can write rhyming sentences at such breakneck speed, and my answer is, I always could. My mother told me years ago that on the day I was born my first word was ‘momma’ and my second word was ‘comma’, and when she asked what it meant I said:

Momma (comma) can’t you see
This little baby here is me
You laid me on this soft, smooth silk
But right now babe I need some milk
I well remember my first day
I came alive as DNA
Began to form me into me
As Time went by I came to be
I lay there quiet in the womb
As dark and silent as a tomb
When suddenly I screamed and cried
As headfirst down a chute I slide
Into the very brightest light
I tell you boys ‘twas quite a fright
Hands pulled me out and cried with joy
Congratulations, it’s a boy!
And so the years went flashing by
My first grade teacher said to try
To write a sentence without rhyme
I said I do this all the time
In high school things seemed to get worse
Algebra I did in verse
And so it went and so it goes
I found myself deep in the throes
Of rhymes that came unbidden born
That flowed both new and flowed shop-worn
And that’s the story to this day
When asked I say ‘tis mere child’s play
As it was then as it is now
And will continue till it’s ciao