From Bad to Verse: Luna Tik Tok, Belated Ides, Rhyme Crime

Tiny Bubble 

Tiny bubble in my glass 

Floating upwards very fast 

When through the tippy top it soars 

It’s not a bubble anymore 

Luna Tik Tok 

A time zone for the moon, it’s said 

Will sync their clocks to chime 

But will they turn those clocks ahead 

For moonlight saving time? 

Dressing Up 

That Caesar salad’s bad 

So do not grab it 

But I think I may 

Take a stab at it 

Limerick 

As Caesar put apples away 

He noticed two gone one fine day 

There was no dismissing 

A pair was sure missing 

He inquired, “Et tu Bruté?” 

Ate Two Croutons 

Today the first Caesar salad was made 

Though the origin was rather grim 

Because upon this very day 

Brutus kaled him 

One Liner 

Children live in Play-Doh’s Republic 

Board Stiff 

I certainly would be uptight 

To be a very wee termite 

Eating boards in fall and winter 

Digesting wood and spitting splinters 

Food of wood 

Is not so good 

As critics have bewailed 

There’s lots of knots 

And awful rots 

But the worst is getting nailed 

Fortunately for me to be 

A termite I just couldn’t 

But even if I could, you see 

I woodn’t 

Rhyme Crime 

There was a poem I’d hoped to write 

Of drying grapes when weather’s blazin’ 

But writer’s block and coolish nights 

Left me here with no rhyme or raisin 

Kevin Ahern is an Oregon State University Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry and Biophysics. In his retirement, he writes verses.