New at IWP Books: Richard Armour, 1958, Nights with Armour. From the Preface: “The poems in this volume, the reader will doubtless note with satisfaction, are short. Most of them run to no more than eight or ten lines, and some of them barely walk. Because of their brevity, they can be recommended to persons who go to sleep as soon as their head hits the pillow. Even in that short interval it is possible to read a couplet or two, and if the reader fails to get through such a piece he will have missed comparatively little. On the other hand, persons who are afflicted with insomnia will also find the brevity of the poems useful, since they can vary things a little by counting poems instead of sheep. This is something that cannot be done with a volume containing only ‘Paradise Lost’ or ‘The Ring and the Book.'”

Adolescent

A mind? Yes, he
 Has one of those.
It comes, however,
 And it goes.

And if, when it
 Is called upon,
It mostly happens
 To be gone,

Don’t fret, don’t shout,
 Don’t curse the lack.
Just wait a while —
 It will be back.

Taking It Easy

When the day of complete
Automation comes,
We’ll put up our feet
And twiddle our thumbs.

But, far from serene,
We’ll say it’s just middling,
And want a machine
To take over the twiddling.

Debate

Convinced by Con,
Persuaded by Pro,
The pendulum mind
Swings to and fro,

Till cleared is the hall
And closed is the door,
When it comes to rest
Where it was before.