John Ronan
Every Day is Garbage Day, Somewhere
Garbage Guy
Stops, spots
A red sticker
And hauls off
The wasted week,
Full remission
A buck a bag:
The usual suet
And newspapers,
Bluster, bromides,
Embarrassment
Of bottles, rinds
Of every kind.
Hanky Panky
(A love song.)
Loopy looks,
proximate hips,
a clumsy hook,
insisting lips.
Mannered mores sum with tact:
hanky panky, the marriage act.
Slip of tongue,
Jack-in-the-box,
A lecherous yawn,
“Ahhh” at the doc’s.
Mannered mores sum with tact:
hanky panky, the marriage act.
Frantic round’s
lust abrupt,
pleasure-bound,
headboard butt:
Mannered mores sum with tact:
hanky panky, the marriage act.
Second’s affection,
lazy play,
aging attrition,
slow matinee.
Mannered mores sum with tact:
hanky panky, the marriage act.
Impeach of reason,
love apart,
gender’s engine,
driven heart.
Mannered mores sum with tact:
hanky panky, the marriage act.
BIO
John J. Ronan is a poet, playwright, movie producer, and journalist. He has received national honors for his poetry and was named a National Endowment for the Arts Fellow for 1999-2000.
In 2009 John published a new book of poems, Marrowbone Lane. He is also a former poet laureate of Gloucester, MA, and remains committed to the importance of civic poetry. Also a playwright, his works include The Yeats Game and The Tease of Eden. A pioneer in electronic publishing, in 2002 he introduced Damned If I Dotage, a humorous e-book on the trials of turning 50.
John is also the founder of the media production company American Storyboard, a teacher of film, and host of the cable talk show The Writer’s Block with John Ronan which will celebrate its 25th anniversary in the 2014-15 season.
