Untitled (Verse Libra)

Gosh!

This Verse Libre gets me.

I don’t know how long a line ought to be or how short,

Or what the metre is

Or where it ought to start or stop,

And when I read it in the papers and magazines

I wonder if anybody knows.

I’m dead sure it ought to stop,

And half sure it ought never to start.

However, the world is wrong end to anyway,

For the last three years,

And poetry has caught the disease.

This isn’t to shun my skill

As a versifyer, but as a versi-nut,

And to wish all my friends,

(Who do not write Verse Libre)

A verrie merrie Christmas,

And a happy, snappy New Year.

                Just a Moment!

The kitchen queen

And Irene

Say, “look here, old man,

Include us in your plan,”

So I don’t dare refuse,

And-laws-a-me, my muse

Has tricked me into rhyme and so

To Peg. I’ll simply holler “whoa!”

c. August 16, 1911

 (Written on an oversized envelope and not dated. The reverse side has ‘Greeting From Gungywamp’ and

JOE CONE

SAYBROOK, CONN.    8-16

on it. The guess as to year comes from the writing (in pencil similar to other 1911 pieces), aged quality of the envelope, and the fact that he was in Old Saybrook and using ‘Gungywamp’ instead of ‘Gungawamp’.)