One of a comic series written in exchange with British children’s author Robbie Yates

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Recorded Reading (1:40): https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/o21fcf4hu670xveiuf6qc/Conundrum-Undone.mp3?rlkey=5c9jx5k0tm67fwv5ljlncj9j6&dl=0

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Conundrum Undone

A question has been asked
(By someone ought better to know):
“If I go raving bonkers, how
Will I ever know?”

This not being the area
Of my own greatest expertise,
I got my friends and neighbors
Some suggestions to release

I thought you might be curious
‘Bout what they had to say
Before those men in snowy coats
Come to take you away

One told me if you catch yourself
Eating someone’s face
It might mean you should
Slow your roll some, cut your pace

Then someone else said it
Reliable a sign would be
If you turned down a huge amount
Of unearned tax free money

They asked me if you still made sense
I said eminently ~
A producing poet to
An excellent degree

“A poet!” they cried, one and all,
“You’ve got a poet in your hair?
How’d you get so careless
As to get one stuck in there?

Were you online admitting
Rhyme and meter you prefer
And that you have a spicy thing
For minds of sterling calibre?

Don’t look at us for pity
Ask us for no more advice
If you’re dealing with a poet
Might as well have body lice!

He isn’t going to go away
Or ever any better get
And if he hasn’t realized
That he’s completely loony yet

That isn’t going to happen either,
Little Chicadee,
Why don’t you just leave him to rave
And come on home with me?”

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Until removal of the stalker/targeter/vandal/arsonist following her allows her to approach any landlord ~ even for a private parking space ~ and to begin once again to create professional connections and to rebuild her life, this poet presently lives homeless and at a fraction of her nation’s poverty level ~ still working seven days a week to contribute to her society, however.

Arts patrons may visit http://www.UgiftABLE.com , using code #72D-31S, or choose to send a personal check to the poet’s ABLE account. It takes about two weeks for the poet to be notified of your patronage.

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