Epitaphs
For a Plastic Surgeon
He took in hips,
He tucked in chins,
He fattened lips,
He smoothed out skins,
Unwrinkled eyes
And narrowed noses.
Now here he lies—
And decomposes.
For a Bartender
For someone who
Could bend your ear,
His conversation
Was small beer.
For Pinocchio
Here lies.
J. Patrick Lewis has published two collections of adult poems, Gulls Hold Up the Sky (2010) and Porch Light (2016), both from Laughing Fire Press. He has published over 140 verses in Light, as well as poems in Gettysburg Review, New England Review, New Letters, Southern Humanities Review, new renaissance, Kansas Quarterly, Fine Madness, and many others. The Poetry Foundation named him the third U.S. Children’s Poet Laureate (2011-2013). He has published 100 children’s picture books to date with Knopf; Atheneum; Dial; Harcourt; Little, Brown; National Geographic; Creative Editions; Chronicle; Candlewick; Scholastic; and others.