My Favorite Dromedary

Riding a camel
Was a new thing for me
But I had lots of fun
As you can here see

I was in the Sahara
Yep, you read that right
And Maurice, my camel
Was downright polite

He knelt in the sand
And blinked his huge eyes
I hopped on his back
And then he would rise

The ride was bumpy
But oh so much fun
I wore lots of clothes
To protect me from sun

Hubby was with me
And Abraham our guide
Was very helpful
In teaching us to ride

On top of Maurice
I saw the dunes and the sand
When we reached camp
There was a Berber drum band

We spent one hot night
At the camp in the dunes
But our time in the desert
Ended too soon

The next morning Maurice
Carried me away
Of my Sahara adventure
This I will say

Maurice, my dromedary
I will always remember
This definitely was
My most magical September

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Marrakech And Me

I’m in Africa
For the very first time
And so it deserves
Its very own rhyme

Marrakech
To be specific
A lovely city
Really terrific

The cacti are green
The stucco is pink
I like the mint tea
A very good drink

Snake charmers
And acrobats
And people wearing
unusual hats

Bought some slippers
In Moroccan styles
I also like
The Marrakech tiles

The tajine is tasty
The temperature’s hot
Tomorrow the Sahara!
To give camel-riding a shot

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Until Next Year

Fall is arriving
Winter is near
And so that means
That I can’t be here

The unheated shack
Is perfect for summer
But I hate the cold
I think it’s a bummer

The mice will take over
While we’re away
Without my cat guarding
They get to play

The garden perennials
Will grow without care
Next spring when I’m back
They’ll already be there

The snow will settle
On lawn and on roof
In Vermont in the winter
There’s never enoof

One last canoe paddle
Then we bring in the dock
The birds are flying south
Flock after flock

I’m headed there also
But Vermont, never fear
Like the birds I’ll be back again
See ya’ next year

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Not Madison County

Quintessential
Is a big word
For a silly poem
You might think it absurd

But Vermont has so many
Of these everywhere
Quintessential says it
It’s really quite fair

Covered bridges span
Rivers, brooks, and streams
Yes, of these things
The state really teams

To visit a few
We took a long drive
In this land where
Covered bridges thrive

Cows, farms, and woods
Down dirt roads we raced
To get to each bridge
To see where they’re placed

Of course we got lost
That was part of the vision
Of our covered bridges
Motor tour mission

But as these photos attest
We found quite a few
The most fun part of all
Is when you drive through

Wood planks above, below
Sound of water rushing under
Like much of Vermont
It fills me with wonder

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Hello Vermont

When we get to Vermont
The first thing we do
Is put in our dock
And when we are through
We find the paddles
And hop in the canoe

When we get to Vermont
It’s usually late May
Although I’m a Vermonter
What can I say?
I don’t like cold weather
So until spring I’m away

When we get to Vermont
We sweep out the shack
Scare away the mice
And tell them we’re back
We buy a few groceries
And then we unpack

When we get to Vermont
The lake is unfrozen
A better spot for our shack
We could not have chosen
Got frolicking to do
So this poem I’m closin’

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Binoculars Bereft

Trying to rhyme
But driven to distraction
By all the Puerto Rican
Birds in full action

No bird book with me
But I’ll try to tackle
More than just these
Antillean grackles

Several shorebirds
Tend to be white
The egrets I can
Identify by sight

But two other white birds
One is much smaller
And the other white one
Is bigger and taller

The mourning doves
Like it here, too
I didn’t expect them
But have seen quite a few

Pelicans coast by
The biggest in size
In fact, they’re so huge
They get my size prize

A big grey guy hopped past
The hotel room last night
Alas, I could not
Name him by sight

A pair of green parrot things
And I do mean bright green
I’ll look them up later
To know what I’ve seen

The Baltimore oriole
Was a long way from home
I suppose in the winter
Southward they roam?

And terns of some sort
I think that’s what I saw
Several little chicks
With their paw and their maw

Binoculars and bird book
I’ll remember next time
Cuz all these Puerto Rican birds
Have been downright sublime

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Life in a Vermont Shack

Summer is
My favorite season
Listen up
To hear the reason

I go to Vermont 
Where I have this shack
Fancy amenities
It sure does lack

This shack of mine
Is on a lake
A setting like that
Ain’t hard to take

On the porch
I sit and sit
Do I get bored?
No, not one bit

The waterfowl
Make me happy
Sometimes I get
Downright sappy

The dock is small
But I like it a lot
In the whole wide world
It’s my favorite spot

Two weeks from now
I’ll pack the car
A very long trip
I’ll travel far

But boy it’s worth
The effort it takes
To get to Vermont
And be at the lake

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Voila, C’est Paris!

It wasn’t something
We were looking for
But we found this map
For sale in a store
Old time Paris
Hey, what a score!

We bought the thing
With no wall wide enough
And we packed it away
With some other stuff
Keeping it perfect
Was a little bit tough

It’s twenty-five pieces
Have I mentioned that yet?
We waited for years
And our dream condo we did get
We had a wall for Paris
We were pleased and all set!

But now our challenge
Was how best to hang it
We now had the space
But it’s 25 pieces, dang it!
We faced that wall
With our hammer and banged it

We got the thing up
With much trepidation
And now when we see it
We are filled with elation
Turgot’s Plan De Paris
What a creation!

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Cindy Come Home

She does not like it
Betty the cat
When I go away
And she’s babysat

She hisses and fights
And puts up a stink
This cat hates me is what
These poor people think

They feed her and tell her
All kinds of nice stuff
But whatever they do
It is never enough

Betty prefers that I
Stay put at home
I hear she’s a pill
When from home I roam

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Too Little Too Late

A wedding in Puerto Rico
Would have been fun
By this point in winter
I’d like some more sun

We wanted to see
A cousin get hitched
But due to the weather
That plan got ditched

Flying this weekend
Had been the goal
But we ended up with
All this stupid snow

Winter storms brewed
Snow here and snow there
Flights were cancelled
About everywhere

We got to the airport
And waited and waited
That outfit I packed
Began to get dated

E-ticket in hand
Was still not enough
We still had to check
A bag of our stuff

The security gate hurdle
Was hard to believe
A longer line of people
I could not conceive

Then we ran with our luggage
Not my best skill
We ran really fast
We tried hard, but still

The door had closed
When we got to the gate
We waved at our plane
Two minutes too late

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