Author: Mike Crowl

He’s such a high FLYER

His fans regard him HOTLY.

To see him FREED

I hope he’ll RALLY.

[Title suggests both the character and the author were struggling.

MURAL (I mean Muriel) lies snoring on the
COUCH. That proboscis provides a symphonic
ORGAN recital, all stops out. So loud is the level that
it’S HEARing-impaired registration only.  

DITTY ditty bang bang, I’m told, isn’t the proper title;
AMBER was forever, but isn’t Forever Amber anymore;
LAYER my burden down seems to have acquired an extra syllable; but CRUDE Oil Blues is the true blue genuine thing. To sing.

[Turns out Forever Amber is actually a song: I’d only known it as a book title. Johnny Mercer wrote the lyrics back in 1947.]

A
STINT – me being short and chubby – in the somewhat tight
KOALA costume, gives me cramps, and what is
RARER, a frightening backache, and though this is, too, my
CIVIC duty, I’d much prefer to hop around as a kangaroo.  

I’m the OMEGA cadet, canny, hiding at the end;
Always wore the CONIC hat at school, but here no fool,
I’m CANNY, I know the ropes, I hold no hopes of being the
brave CADET, courageous – but I’ll be still standing when the others fall. 

The
DRAFT of my latest kid’s fantasy still seems
JERKY – yet I’ve gone through it more than a
DOZEN times. I have to keep my eyes wide open; if I
BLINK the whole thing will send up a literary stink.

So BOOZY am I, I find I’m totally
AMAZEd by the fact that when I put my tube
TOKEN in the slot, the turnstyle opens. I’d expected I’d receive
the latest MANGA by the comic artist Takahashi.   

The
FREAK, pursued by the maddened troop, foamed at the
MOUTH. Trapped at the crumbling edge of the
CLIFF-top, he paused. Time to drop, to die. The nearing
TROOP, open-mouthed, watched him tumble, peaceful, without a cry.

[Not sure what day these words belong to, but only one writer has used them so I thought I’d go all out 19th century melodrama.
And, I didn’t want to deal with TAROT!]

My LOYAL camel oddly quit, after many years of service.
A CAMEL more than oddly loyal, his loss made me quite nervous.
ODDLY, my loyal camel, quite happy, now walked in my neighbour’s train.
QUITE angry I, since oddly my camel’s loyal, now, to extra grain!

Here’s
CLEAT once more, two days since its last entrance. Sound the
CONCH that such a word gets its second run. Will sounding the conch
BLESS this occasion? Perhaps not, but a bit of hooloo hoolay won’t go amiss
TODAY.