Each has a poem, if they make a pause,
Their rush is mostly extraneous.
But a rhyme can be spontaneous,
To bring a laugh and inner applause.
The usual day has many a chore,
Get fresh fruits and groceries to eat,
Friends on tap, an obligatory meet.
The sonnet’s remote, a poetic dinosaur.
Many faces but just one mission,
To hit the mall as a gadabout,
Finding a bargain, a dubious decision.
For all of us, it’s shop and shout,
The result of a social fission,
But I was thinking of a native’s walkabout.
Francis Conlon is a retired and recovering teacher. For the past 20 years, he has worked as a seasonal river ranger and boat inspector at Yampa River State Park in northwest Colorado. He has published in the local Valley Voice and in Westward Quarterly. He currently lives in Salt Lake City, Utah.