SONNET

FOR JOHN KEATS 303,
THE SMALLEST ROOM AT A PORTLAND INN

    The Citgo Station seen from your window
       Doth fall short of Whitman's mount at morn's hour;
       And Dorothy Parker's two-head'd shower
    Makes your one-head'd one seem paltry, I know.
    O Keats 303! Ignore what you're not!
       Forty dollars cheaper than Longfellow
       You may be on paper, but 'tis not so
    To those quiet breathing your bed hath brought.
    O if your namesake lived to be longer!
       He could've penn'd something worth forty more.
    Or, O if his sick lungs were a bit stronger!
       You might've compris'd the entire third floor.
    But, O to another'd be this sonner!
       I've no int'rest in what I can't afforde.


Tom, September 5, 2005, 11:48 PM        (link here)