TEN CENTS PER LINE

It takes a devious

Mind to be a poet

Obedient to a muse

Wrapped in mystic mist

Who leads through deep

Grass to the place

Where angst doth grow

Oblivious to the obvious

Even though every line

Insists on starting

With a capital

Which may be more

At the behest

Of the computer

Than the muse these days

Making each line short

As Langston Hughes did

Because he was paid

By the line

Which is really

The only true reason

To write a poem

Anyway

John Robert McFarland

The above is 23 lines. At ten cents per line, which, I admit, is far more than it is worth--but you did read it--that comes to $2.30. You may make your payment to any good cause that enhances the kindliness or beauty of the world.