When ten men pen diatribes against a certain den of iniquity
where nine captains of industry dine on dollars and fine wine
which eight straight-laced persons of weight unload as freight
that seven sisters of a circled heaven are seen to use to leaven
some six or so tricks designed to fix or nix imbalances and such
as five others could and should surely strive to thrive to deprive
what four horse riders swore to shore up even to even the score
for three free folk persons suffering a spree of glee to be able to flee
from two who formally eschew brews to rue the day the zoo opened
because it counts as why and because and no less than one and done
                        

In memoriam Haroldo de Campos (1929-2003)

The good medical doctor 
resident of New Jersey 
averred that
So much depended on
a glazed red wheelbarrow
And we came to believe it

Six decades later
a visiting doctor of letters
warned that if you didn't
apply ten coats of varnish
to the front door
the paint would burst
in the hot Texas sun
And his observation remains
virtually unnoticed