Text-ku

First published in Frogpond 31:3, Fall 2008, pages 46 and 47.

tulips bending

in the truck’s breeze

FWIW

moonlight

after hot sex

VBG

this year

a higher fence

MYOB

smoky bar—

the new guy brags

about his RPG

TTFN

she croons—

the prostitute

OMG

the Grand Canyon

at sunset

BTW

the double-parked car

is a cop’s

AFAIK

rain on both sides

of the house

tax day—

daffodils opening

ASAP

FYI

the cherries blooming now

in the far north

the fallen politician’s

split pants

ROTFL

the neighbour’s teen

too old for Halloween

LOL

IMHO

the crows louder

than the woodpecker

Writing in Frogpond 32:1, Winter 2009, Illinois reader Joan Vistain wrote “When I first saw ‘Text-ku’ I thought, oh no, please . . . not Frogpond! Then I saw the glossary and immediately identified with the line beneath it [‘for Non-Texters a.k.a. Old People’]. I read Michael Dylan Welch’s rendition with delight. How clever and entertaining. Just what we need in these TT (tumultuous times).” (The editors of Frogpond chose to provide a glossary with my sequence.)