Poems of the Week

Vanity Profanity

by Alex Steelsmith

“Maine is cleaning up its roadways by removing the flippin’ vulgarities from license plates…
[A] bunch of descendants of Puritans in a New England state ended up putting some of the raunchiest
messages on state-issued license plates. …  [E]stimatees suggested 400 offensive plates could be subject to recall…”
AP

Flippity quippity,
vanity license plates
shock us in Maine as in
few other states;

raunchy, unruly, and
unpuritanical
Mainiacs take too much
license with plates.

Doubledy troubledy,
banning vulgarities,
though they leave civilized
people appalled,

might only add to their
memorability,
now that they’re subject to
being recalled.