Response Poems 

the tweedle man

by Frank Prem

they dress him in braces

that hold up his jeans

to just under his chest

with a red cap on top

he’s baby brother

to the tweedles

both dum and dee

built boots for club feet

and a walking slant

that can’t make up its mind

to be either a jaunt

or a topple in progress

under the cap is the devil of a grin

and the gleam from his eyes

could be the glass marbles of a boy

held close in his bag

but

ohhhh

look at my pants nurse

it’s an outrage

to be wet again

ohhhh

look nursey

look at my pants

who’s going to change him

ohhhh

and after that

it’s unspoken but shared

that it’s ever so much better

dear nursey

sweet nurse

much much better

to be dry

he slant-saunters away

hidden somewhere under the brim

of his hat

tweedle-ee tweedle-ay

tweedle-um

Untitled

by Philip Johnson

under the cap is the devil of a grin

and the gleam from his eyes

could be the glass marbles of a boy

held close in his bag

the god of modern poetry is at work

24/7

his poor wife wretches

as she does his annual sock wash

and her lungs inflate with the stench of it like a ripe old cheese melting

deep into her tongue

from the fuzz he tears a slither

weighs and wires it

the new electronic media

ideal

the hierarchy of a hot sweat on air in circulation