Featured Writer: Vernon Waring

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ADHD: The Poem

the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
poem
is a strange animal

with lines
monosyllabically
short
and then
perilously     freakishly     faulknerically
long

but not to worry

the trick is to screw around
with the readers' heads a bit

let them wonder
what's going on

get them used to
obnoxious departures

sudden jolts
of expression

sharp turns
toward profanity

devious detours into
obscenity, indecency

these are the
tourette's moments
of a poet's creative life:
a move to keep those with the
attention span of an infant gnat
awake      alive      responsive

some may expect poetry
to take them down
safe bland routes:
     a snowfall enhanced by red robins
     perched on a rustic fence

     a lake with canoeing lovers cooing
     in a shimmering moment

     heartfelt elegies
     quaint quatrains
     hip haiku

but can these images
really keep you entranced?
         hypnotized?
         involved?

well, can they?

it isn't like i didn't
warn you
or the horse you rode in on



Vernon Waring's

poetry has appeared in The Writer, The Iconoclast, Alabama School of Fine Arts Quarterly, Midwestern University Quarterly, New Dimensions, and Anthology as well as on the Prairie Home Companion's Web site. His light verse has been published in the Saturday Evening Post, Philadelphia Daily News, and WRITE ON!! Poetry Magazette. His short fiction and poetry have also been featured online in Ascent Aspirations Magazine. He resides in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.


Email: Vernon Waring

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