in her signature four-by-four style
Mary, our dear
editor-friend,
feels her days on
this site near end.
She’s had a re-
markable run,
(nine fine years
ago, it begun.)
From day one, to
me She’s been a
confedante,
consigliera,
selfless mentor,
thoughtful partner,
one fastidious
verse gard’ner.
Her four-by-four
signature style,
tightly knit and
versatile,
would be lamen-
table goner …
unless we sus-
tain the genre.
Let’s join pens and
keep up this terse,
fun-shaped, bite-sized
syllabic verse.
Gauntlet cast, and
challenge stated.
We’ll keep rhyming —
Unabated.
read Mary’s — we trust temporary — farewell message below:
I hear the whispers
on the arctic breeze.
Am I mere fodder
for glacial gossip —
and polar sleaze?
They say I’ve gone
long in the tooth,
with each day
more disheveled,
more uncouth,
and to tell the
honest truth,
I do miss the
carefree days of
my jaunty youth —
A lifetime spent
on the ice
(which I admit
is hardly
paradise)
A lifetime fighting off
polar bears
and orca —
(where’s my ballad,
García Lorca?)
and as yet
undeceased,
could not your regard for me
be warmer and fuzzier,
at the least?
Little gets me
chagrined.
Bring it on — I’m
nothing if not
thick-skinned.
The End
