After-Orts #96

A Place for Everything
                       by Louis Jenkins

It's so easy to lose track of things. A screwdriver, for instance.
"Where did I put that? I had it in my hand just a minute ago." You
wander vaguely from room to room, having forgotten, by now,
what you were looking for, staring into the refrigerator, the bath-
room mirror . . . "I really could use a shave. . . ."

          [two more stanzas/paragraphs]

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Riding Lesson
                by Henry Taylor

I learned two things
from an early riding teacher.
He held a nervous filly
in one hand and gestured
with the other, saying "Listen.
Keep one leg on one side,
the other leg on the other side,
and your mind in the middle."

He turned and mounted.
She took two steps, then left
the ground, I thought for good.
But she came down hard, humped
her back, swallowed her neck,
and threw her rider as you'd
throw a rock. He rose, brushed
his pants and caught his breath,
and said, "See that's the way
to do it. When you see
they're gonna throw you, get off."

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Authorship
     by James Ball Naylor

King David and King Solomon
     Led merry, merry lives,
With many, many lady friends
     And many, many wives;
But when old age crept over them,
     With many, many qualms,
King Solomon wrote the Proverbs
     And King David wrote the Psalms.