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After-Dinner Talk with an Old Reprobate
by
Ginny Lowe Connors


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after Mark Twain

Give me fresh air and I'll introduce it
            to the stink of a fine cigar.
Give me another drink.
            Sometimes too much to drink is barely enough.
Give me adversity and I will bear it
            as long as it belongs to someone else.
Give me a book people praise but do not read
             and I'll show you a classic.
Give me America anytime.
            We have the best government money can buy.
Give me laughter,
            nothing can withstand it.
Give me good books, good friends,
a lazy conscience. That is the ideal life.

 

© by Ginny Lowe Connors.
Used here with the author's permission.

 

 

 


Ginny Lowe Connors is a retired English teacher and the author of four full-length poetry collections and a chapbook, Under the Porch, which won the Sunken Garden Poetry Prize. She runs a small poetry press, Grayson Books, and is co-editor of Connecticut River Review. Ginny has also edited a number of poetry anthologies, including Forgotten Women: A Tribute in Poetry. Learn more about her at www.ginnyloweconnors.com.

              

 


Post New Comment:
Nabby Dog:
As a lifelong Mark Twain enthusiast I am especially grateful for today's poem. The choice of Twain's quotes and the sequence in which they are presented are both perfect. This is the "ideal" poem to honor someone whose insight and wit continue to enrich us all.
Posted 11/30/2015 12:13 PM
barbsteff:
Captures Twain, and the human experience.
Posted 11/30/2015 10:26 AM
jeeger:
This poem made me smile and nod.
Posted 11/30/2015 07:11 AM


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