Recipe for a Review
Great critic, you scourge of all rhyme—
Eye of bat! Tongue of snake! Soul of slime!—
Here’s a rival’s collection
For destructive inspection
And a check on its best-selling climb.
Clip its wings, pluck its plumes, cook its goose,
Let it stew in your poisonous juice,
Then add rotted bouquets
And a touch of faint praise,
As a prelude to further abuse.
Sprinkle snark and aspersions and sneers
Marinaded in malice and smears,
Then serve piping hot
In one huge toxic shot
To ensure that it all ends in tears!
Jerome Betts lives in Devon, England, where he edits the 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 1, 2, and 12, 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, Light, The Asses of Parnassus, The Hypertexts, The New Verse News, Per Contra, and Snakeskin.