a good friend sent me a book
one christmas it was an old
library book he d bought for
a few cents but he asked me
to ignore that information
even though it was written
in felt pen inside

it was a book by don marquis
called archy and mehitabel
archy is a cockroach of
great talent and industry
each night when the don is
away from his office archy
hurls himself at
the keys of
the typewriter
but the shift key defeats him
the resulting prose
is in lower case and sans
punctuation

it is a hoot to read
and joy of joys is full of
line drawings by george
herriman of krazy kat fame

if you d like to read more
extracts i suggest archy
interviews a pharaoh and
the lesson of the moth
on the don marquis
tribute website

and finally thanks
to john blair moore
for the gift of a
treasured book