Reel Time Reductions
Bandits robbing poor peasants of grain
Face some samurai swords in the rain.
These start off as seven
But four go to heaven
And the peasants plant rice once again.
A blonde, a brunette, flaming June,
A marshal, ex-jailbirds, a tune . . .
The minutes tick past
Till a train comes at last
And the bullets start flying at noon.
An outbacker, all lean and brown,
Won’t let crocs and/or crooks get him down.
His tough bushman shtick
Wows a young New York chick
Who takes him back with her to town.
Jerome Betts lives in Devon, England, where he edits the verse quarterly Lighten Up Online. Pushcart-nominated twice, his verse has appeared in a wide variety of UK publications and in anthologies such as Love Affairs At The Villa Nelle, Limerick Nation, the Potcake chapbooks, and Beth Houston’s three Extreme collections. He has been featured in Light. British, European, and North American web venues include Amsterdam Quarterly, Better Than Starbucks, The Asses of Parnassus, The New Verse News, The Hypertexts, Per Contra, and Snakeskin.