The Syncopated Times March
Dean Norman
December 30, 2024
Try this on your piano! Last month I made a semi-facetious request for someone to write “The Syncopated Times March,” since “We certainly deserve a
Try this on your piano! Last month I made a semi-facetious request for someone to write “The Syncopated Times March,” since “We certainly deserve a
I love you and the horse you rode in on; I see you there Mounted on your mare— You make quite a striking pair As
A SONG OF BLUNDER Years ago I read a clever story And it inspired the song that I will sing: Time-travelers sought prehistoric glory, Went
Transcendentalists on TikTok Thoreau tried to post a preliminary draft Of On the Duty of Civil Disobedience But even his own mother Chose an exercise
Jackson, Brooks, Porter; the twenties’ best creators. Their work lives on all thanks to boardwalk empire and the aviator. “Jazz is dated, get lost, you’ll
A Tribute to Oscar “Papa” Celestin and Other Early Jazz Artists from the Thibodaux, La., Area This poem was commissioned for the Thibodaux Jubilee celebration
Years ago I read a clever story And it inspired the song that I will sing: Time-travelers sought prehistoric glory, Went back, and changed a
In addition to everything else going on, I turn 60 this May. (Or should I say “dismay?”) It’s nothing to celebrate, but I thought the
The pieces yearn for each other. Little twists with soft, round arms reach out to open spaces that almost fit, but not quite. They want
Co-Dependent Baby (Sung to the tune of You Know What) Come, Sweetheart mine— Don’t snort that line, Put away your crack pipe and your airplane
Why must I have an opinion? Political stands are glandular, and my glands have deteriorated. I once propounded the truth, but it stood in the
The hot thin soup did boil and spew The day I first encountered you; You were a protein molecule Adrift in that primeval pool. As
I roam the earth in search of The only man who knows how to cut my hair properly, Neville the Human Pencil Sharpener. I stare
Our national discourse has improved considerably Since Barney was elected President. Who else would kids of all ages love and trust Having been spurned and
The joy in my moderation is so intense That I can hardly keep from smiling. I have succeeded in defeating temptation By boring it to
I won’t eat in a restaurant. They make me nervous. I eat a lot of spam and tomato soup. I roast weenies on a fork
The pull of gravitation gets me down And holds me as I struggle to ascend; I grapple, its embrace thus to disown, Though certain of
Flash and bang and motion flicker in my periphery Demanding brief bursts of comment but never silence. What is there to like? But approval is
Against automatic banjo-trilobites wagging you haunt me; Were we young once—ever? I have gallstones older and smarter than the President. Yet the leather in the
