I was sippin' rum and agua
With a lady from Managua
As we shared a book of verses which had lines that didn't scan;

'Twas "The Country That's Between Us,"
And the bookmark was my penis,
As we watched the whales cavorting in the bay of Yucatan.

But I soon went limp with terror
When I realized my error,
A revolting modernism, self-indulgent and obscure;

Sure, I felt a certain tristesse
As I dropped the Sandinistas
In the garbage bin of history, with Ginsberg and McClure.

But, since I embraced mimesis
Of paideia and poesis,
Tossed barbarism over to the dugongs and the whales,

Now my private parts are private,
and my meter--I derive it
Half from Guido Cavalcanti, half from ancient Bards of Wales.

Oh, my figures are Miltonic
And my rhyme scheme is Byronic,
And of verbal imprecision you will never find a trace,

As to discipline, I'm zealous,
But when I'm reading Hellas,
I still utilize my penis when I need to mark my place.