I drew the word ESPOUSE for round 1 of this year’s March Madness Poetry battler.

Loaded Verses at Dawn
By Susan Taylor Brown

Beware the skirmish just begun, poetic lines are drawn,
my dictionary and thesaurus whimper on the lawn.

Broken pencils surround my bed, red ink stains all the sheets,
I need to channel Dr. Seuss or Silverstein or Keats.

My garbage bucket overflows with pithy paper bits,
while bloody blisters fill my hands like rows of zombie zits.

For the poetry I espouse I’ll make myself the clown,
I’ll wrestle any word you want and take that big wolf down.