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.)