by Michael Calvert

“At the stroke of midnight, such beloved classics as Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” … [may be] quoted at length or in full anywhere when the copyright expires on work produced in 1923.”—Vox

Whose words these are I’m sure I know.
But they were penned so long ago,
I now can print them without fear
And cackle as my earnings grow.

With passage of another year,
No longer must I wait to hear
From authors’ greedy progeny
Who wait around for checks to clear.

And high time—near a century
Seems rather long a time to see
Residuals from one as dead
As Robert Frost appears to be.

No longer are they getting fed,
And growing fat on unearned bread,
And I’m financially ahead—
And I’m financially ahead.