Acrostic Sonnets

 Rain On The River

 Rains falling on the Hudson River zone
 And deluging the pathways in a park,
 Inhibiting the progress of a lone
 New Yorker splashing through the semi-dark
 Of daylight under leaden clouds, emit
 No sound—in physics terms—from forceful strokes
 That Bellows used to paint the grime and grit
 He juxtaposed with grass and trees, to coax
 Enchantment out of gloom ... But don't you hear
 Rails clanking, plumes of hissing steam, the spray
 In hurried footsteps, and a neigh? The mere
 Veracity of physics can't gainsay
 Eyes predisposed to hear as well as see:
 Rain On The River captures sounds for me!

 (First published in the Ekphrastic Review on 26th July,
  2024 as a response to Rain On The River by George
  Bellows
)
 Behind The Times

 Behind the Times in olden times gone by,
 Engaging with the crossword, you could ride
 Home on a train and catch no meddler's eye.
 It's different now. Your crossword's hard to hide:
 News comes in tabloid size. A stranger's frown
 Disrupts your thinking as you try to solve
 The clues, which he can read, if upside down.
 He thinks you should be grateful to involve
 External help. He says you are behind
 The times with pen and paper, since the app
 Is now the thing, and he is sure you'll find
 More crossword pleasure going tap, tap, tap ...
 Except he's wrong: you are, as passenger,
 So not behind the Times—but wish you were!

 (First published in the December 2024 issue of
  Lighten Up Online)
 Word Game Addict

 When midnight signals it's another day
 On Earth, the time when major word game sites
 Replenish stocks of daily games to play,
 Do you indulge—or switch off all the lights,
 Get into bed immediately and save
 Attempts at games till after slumberland's
 Made solving them more mindful? If you crave
 Enigmas based on words—like Wordle, Strands
 And Twordsy—and, at midnight, you're awake
 Debating this dilemma, aren't you in
 Denial? You're a word game addict! Make
 It easy on yourself: don't let guilt win,
 Click Play and guess a word with 5 more clicks—
 To start work early on your Wordle fix!

 (First published in the Winter 2025 issue of
  WestWard Quarterly)
 The Lily Trotter

 The female lily trotter on the pond
 Has many broods, all cared for by their dads,
 Each knowing it's her nature to abscond,
 Light-footedly across the lily pads
 In search of other males, as soon as she's
 Laid eggs. Most mother birds will tend a brood,
 Yet lily trotter wisdom disagrees:
 Their single parenting is by the dude.
 Remarkably, this dad sits on the eggs.
 Once they are hatched, he rears the chicks alone,
 Then totes them, under wing, on gangly legs,
 Till they can better manage on their own—
 Exemplary parental care ... His tale
 Reveals the feathered world's most caring male!

 (First published in Current Conservation on 31st
  January, 2025. Story here)



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