DREAM BARKING

                    I know our little Tiggy, just as we,                   
                    Has dreams at night: her muffled barks declare
                    She’s visiting again some memory
                    Or chasing an imaginary hare.
                    What say, my little walking mate, that we
                    Cavort together in one tandem dream
                    Reflecting what along our route we’ll see
                    As we stroll on beneath the full moon’s gleam?
                    Another dog we’ll spy or, better yet,
                    A cat who’s bold enough to start a spat,
                    But better yet will cuddle for a pet
                    And we’ll be perfectly content with that.
                         Now, soon it will be time to take our walk
                         Then find what other critters you can stalk.

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TRICK OR TREAT?

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INVOCATION

                    O, Muse of making something difficult
                    Seem easy—assist me, please, in this endeavor
                    So that my poem achieves the grand result
                    Of living in posterity forever—
                    This sonnet, though, I know’s not such a one
                     Since it now simply talks about itself,
                     A subject that most readers readily shun,
                     A book of which would never leave the shelf,
                     But if I could pull off a tour de force
                     By writing in a single sentence one
                     Persuading even skeptics to endorse
                     My prowess, I’ll be proud of what I’ve done,
                         And I, of course, will praise you for your aid
                        Without which such a verse could not be made.

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SAPIENCE

                    A wise old owl now sits beside my chair,
                    A figurine I found in a thrift shop,
                    Reminding me of owls with whom we share
                    Our backyard oak trees, where they perch atop,
                    Reminding me as well to realize
                    That Homo sapiens sapiens should be wise.

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