Things Are War or Less the Same

The fisherman: evening effect by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, c. 1865.

(written May 1971, Boston and Saratoga)

may

next spring

not be

silent

majority

of housewives use Dove

so gentle to the hands

of this callous

calley

assed

the president for mercy

and the president said, “Oh, pardon me,”

and kept his peace,

for peace is a precious thing

and shouldn’t be given away lightly,

it’s just common sense

input

in-

sens-

itivity

experiment

in mob psychology,

incense

to burn

baby

burn

mother

but side-burns shall not extend below the middle of the ear

and thine eyes shall see the gory

newsreel

and unreal

reeling

in this atomic age

of unfishinable

streams

of consciousness

expanding

war

or less

the same,

moralless,

insane

List of Richard’s other jokes, stories, and essays.