Roger Whitson

Sonnet for Commercialism

If you're ill, or need a thrill, take a pill.
And men if your libido has grown cold,
Buy viagra a lot of it is sold.
Go get some and give your lover a thrill.
When it's too hard to empty your bladder,
And you don't have the cash but have the
will,
Go beg, borrow or steal a purple pill,
For this could be a serious matter.
If you can't sleep, they're cheap, buy one of
these
And when you awake you will feel better,
You will forget that you are a debtor.
And buy one of these if you start to
sneeze.
And buy one of those if you soil your
clothes.
And buy one of these if you are obese.


Sonnet for Nikki Giovanni

Thru window I saw her standing there
& I observed the girl with flaxen hair
she whose eyes are blue & skin is satin
lives in high rise over Manhattan.

But his wife is tired & her feet are sore
& she finds the talk of baseball a bore
she whose skin is black & nails are broken
must walk for she has no subway token.

The flaxen haired girl has hands soft & pink.
His wife scrubs pots & pans at restaurant
                            sink.
After hurried late supper of omelet
She sits down for coffee & cigarette.
Then after kids are bathed & put to bed.


riposte to tommy gunn

i’m sick of n.r.a. executives
speaking merely as the gunmakers' shills
as more & more children are shot & killed,
what about these kids basic right to live?

i'm sick of hearing gun enthusiasts,
if other amendments are malleable,
why is the second one infallible?
there is no reasonable retort to this.

the number of guns in the u.s.a.
are three hundred million at the last count,
would a zillion guns be required amount
to please the leaders of the n.r.a. ?
no practical use for weapons of war,
except to kill people that's what they're for.


About the Author

I was born in the midwest. When I was four, we moved back to Tennessee and that is where I grew up. It was at a community college that I discovered Langston Hughes and this discovery inspired me to try and write poetry. Since 1995, I have lived in Kingston NY. In 2010, I took a M.S. at SUNY New Paltz.

Because of circumstances at home, I am pretty much homebound. But when I have the time, I enjoy very long walks and playing with my dogs.

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