An April Jewel
(in 100 words)
written by: Ken Gosse
Dear friends, please be kind
to this old April fool—
when you’re pokin’ fun,
being mean isn’t cool.
Live it up. Laugh it up.
Do your best, not your worst,
whether spur of the moment
or even rehearsed.
I’ll make a good butt
for a joke that needs fuel,
as long as it’s funny—
not meant to be cruel.
I’ll grin and I’ll groan
till the joke’s fully nursed
and though I’m embarrassed,
I’ll laugh till I burst.
If you planned it in fun
and I’m not made a tool,
once the jesting’s been done
and I’m laughing, then you’ll.
Ken Gosse prefers writing short, rhymed verse with traditional meter usually filled with whimsy and humor. First published in First Literary Review–East in November 2016, since then in Pure Slush, Home Planet News Online, Spillwords, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, and others. Raised in the Chicago suburbs, now retired, he and his wife have lived in Mesa, AZ, over twenty-five years with rescue cats and dogs underfoot.
Latest posts by Ken Gosse (see all)
- Who’s Black and White and Red All Over? - December 19, 2024
- It Was The Monster Smash! - November 13, 2024
- Do Not Go Meekly Into That Dark Night - October 30, 2024
