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    Belshazzar and Antigone
    Belshazzar and Antigone
    Belshazzar and Antigone
    Ebook154 pages58 minutes

    Belshazzar and Antigone

    By G. E. Kruckeberg

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    About this ebook

    Belshazzar and Antigone, the title poem from this collection, is a tale of two cats, whose lifestyle reflects a set of values that, it is suggested, we might all adopt to our advantage. Eighty-nine other poems, ranging in tone from serious to humorous, both celebrate and satirize the human condition. The subject matter covered ranges from History (The Alamo, The Monkey Law) through Nature (Sea Moods, Clouds), Religion (The Ten Commandments, Karma), Philosophy (Credo, Play The Game), and Politics (Wizard Without A Wand, Liberals) to the American Experience (The Boomers, Seven Days), with a liberal sprinkling of pure nonsense (Irving Wallenstein, An American Tragedy) to provide comic relief along the way. There are no abstruse, free verse exercises in Dadaism in this book. These are poems written for the people, in the style of Johnson, Lovelace, and Shakespeare, with lines that rhyme and conclusions that not only make sense but make you think.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherG. E. Kruckeberg
    Release dateFeb 5, 2012
    ISBN9781465759733
    Belshazzar and Antigone
    Author

    G. E. Kruckeberg

    G. E. Kruckeberg is a retired engineer turned author and poet. He has lived in several foreign countries including Japan, Korea, and Texas, and currently resides in Bucerias, Mexico with his wife Annie and a Chihuahua named Ninya.

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      Book preview

      Belshazzar and Antigone - G. E. Kruckeberg

      BELSHAZZAR AND ANTIGONE

      AND OTHER POEMS

      By G. E. KRUCKEBERG

      Smashwords Edition

      Copyright 2012 by G. E. Kruckeberg

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      FOREWORD

      There are many reasons why

      People poetry might write

      (And many things they could do worse

      Than pen a line or two of verse).

      Some write poems to make you cry,

      Some to make a lover sigh,

      Some for money, fame, or pity,

      And some to ease indignity.

      Some write poems to make you sad;

      Others write to make you mad.

      Some write to make you laugh or blush,

      But most write poems because they must.

      Rhyme and meter might enthrall

      Those who read his doggerel,

      But to the poet, poetry's

      A method of discovery.

      Poetry's a private thing,

      And its writing often brings

      A new perspective that will help

      The poet understand himself.

      Yet no emotion is unique,

      And poems oft to all bespeak

      The thread of commonality

      That binds us in humanity.

      Let me therefore offer you

      And your progeny a few

      Lines of poetry that I've penned

      (And that I highly recommend)

      In hopes that they'll give you at least

      As much as I hope they'll give me.

      For, though I wrote them for myself,

      I've always hoped that they might sell.

      APPOLOGY

      Should my habit of reiterating cogent points offend,

      Or if you think too often I repeat a common verity,

      These three maxims to your consideration I commend:

      Redundancy is the soul of clarity,

      Redundancy is the soul of clarity,

      And redundancy is the soul of clarity.

      This book is dedicated to:

      ANNIE

      My wife’s a perfect lady – lovely as she can be.

      I’ll never understand just what she sees in me.

      I know you’ll think I’m crazy; I know this sounds absurd,

      But I’m married to the most beautiful woman in the world.

      She’s every inch a woman; she’s very much a child.

      She’s everything I need to make my world all right.

      She’s all I’ve ever wanted and more than I deserve.

      I’m married to the most beautiful woman in the world.

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      Belshsazzar and Antigone

      Cats

      Two Dogs

      Birds

      Clouds

      The Wind

      Sunrises and Sunsets

      Carpe Diem

      Sea Moods

      Spring

      Rain

      Trees

      Autumn

      Nature

      Primary Colors

      The Heartland of America

      An American Tragedy

      Just Renting

      The Boomers

      Insomnia

      The Ballad of Vernon Howell

      The Monkey Law

      The Alamo

      Fredericksburg

      Irving Wallenstein

      The Park

      Credo

      Caution

      The Lost Word

      Honesty

      Reality

      The Emperor's Clothes

      Expectation

      Life's Mystery Revealed

      Luck Will Follow

      Polemos Pater Panton

      Reason

      Logic

      The Laws of Perversity

      Some People

      Dreams

      That's Reality

      Viewpoints

      Keep Trying

      Play The Game

      Good Advice

      Be True to Yourself

      Stability

      Human Nature

      The Hand

      Actors and Critics

      Winners and Losers

      Bitchers

      Contenment

      Socialism

      Parasites

      Engineers

      Maintenance

      Management

      The Fishermen

      Seven Days

      Economic Animals

      Verbosity

      When You Were Mine

      When I Saw Her Face

      The Opposite Sex

      I Like Women

      Women

      Life Is Now

      The Ten Commandments

      God

      Get Out Of Your Head

      Karma

      Sex

      You Don't Have To Get Old

      The Chemical Solution

      Wizard Without A Wand

      Liberals

      Life Is Funny

      Some Things

      Fatcat, Pillage, and Rape

      Butterflies

      About the Author

      BELSHAZZAR AND ANTIGONE

      Belshazzar and Antigone,

      Two neighborhood felines,

      Upon our garden fence did meet

      One evening just at nine.

      They soon were busily discussing

      Feline world affairs,

      And from my window up above

      I heard them talking there.

      I wish I were an inside pet,

      Antigone meowed.

      "I'd never more be cold or wet,

      And I would be allowed

      To play with pencils on the desk

      Or sleep upon the bed,

      And when I wanted to, I'd let

      My mistress scratch my head."

      You ought not wish for things like that,

      Belshazzar then advised.

      "Remember that being a cat

      Means being satisfied.

      For what is is; what's not is not,

      And you should never fret

      About the life you haven't got,

      'Cause life is what you get."

      At least I'm not a dog like that,

      Antigone then said.

      She nodded at our schnauzer napping

      In my flower bed.

      "How such a stupid animal

      Could be a man's best friend

      I'll never understand at all."

      Belshazzar said, Amen!

      "Dogs just don't know the secrets of

      Success," Belshazzar said,

      "Like never blink, and never bluff,

      And never hesitate.

      One must learn, if he would succeed,

      The first law of the cat:

      'If

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