Oh You!
You are my joie de vivre, dear,
The sunrise to my chanticleer—
For you inspire full-blown desire
As if it were your life’s career!
You are my tenor saxophone,
My clarinet, my slide trombone—
The Dixieland of my jazz band,
My Downbeat and my Rolling Stone!
You are my cakes and ale, true-blue,
My cup of tea, my saucer, too—
In sum, the dish of my last wish,
My ripe Chablis, my oyster stew!
David Hedges has placed poems with Light, Poetry, Measure, Poet Lore, et al. His book Prospects of Life After Birth: Memoir in Poetry and Prose appeared in 2019, and a book of light verse that first appeared in Poems of the Week, Trump Über Alles: Rhymes of the Times, was released in 2022. A full-length poetry collection is forthcoming in 2024. He is past president of the Oregon Poetry Association and serves on the Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission. He co-founded the Oregon Poetry Collection at the University of Oregon’s Knight Library and received the 2003 Stewart H. Holbrook Literary Legacy Award from Literary Arts, Inc. for his contributions to Oregon’s literary life.