William Jay Smith

Epigrams


Critic

A short-order cook is the mealymouthed critic,
In his chromium kitchen long has he rambled;
Attacks an egg with a little egg beater
And serves it shirred, or blurred, or scrambled.

"Poet"

After,each,word,he,places,a,comma,
A,remarkable,effect,indeed,
It,gives,you,jitters,when,you,look,
It,gives,you,hiccoughs,when,you,read.

Lady Biographer

She devotes her life to the lives of others,
Sees the poor mad poets as they were;
And how they'd have been if they'd had nice mothers,
Or if they all had married her.


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*Collected in Smith's POEMS, 1947-57
(Boston: Little Brown, 1957)