Iceberg
By Daniel C. Libeg
A mindless mountain: an ice calf
gestating for centuries; birthing asunder,
in an unceremonial, engulfing, splashing,
plunging roar to pasture with kindred and kin in icy, dark, crowded seas. Afloat!-
independent, awesome, bearing a haughty, gladitorial splendor: Sterling
white in the iciclely light, heeding naught but wind and wave.
Deceptive, but with the brow above the
aquatic plains. Hard, brittle
translucent--peril to all including self:
Drifting aimlessly, a mindless, amorphous
engine of primeval power on a mission of
self-destruction, heedless of shattering
cleaving clashes, taken or given.
Frozen and foreboding, doomed to roam
Ceaselessly until, surreptitiously seduced by
warmth: to slowly bleed, reducing the frigid
voyager to more and more of less and less.
The last drops dissipated, assimilated until
it is naught, but a single tear on the waves
and gone. Obedient -- to the end --
To a purpose known to none...
...and the seas are very still once more.

My Coo-Coo Clock
By Daniel C. Libeg

I live in a big old house
Just me and my antiques;
Locks on doors and windows
Against burglar or thief.

I'm an honest man
And my moral standards high;
And to the ten suggestions
I religiously comply.

My Coo-Coo clock's a beauty
Of old world design;
At ten she was up for her routine
But instead she barfed the time.

I took her to the "Clock-Doc"
And this my ridiculed ears heard:
Laughing like some wild hyena
"You got a pregnant Coo-Coo bird?"

I explained my problems
To the hospital and the unversity;
In a huff they threatened lawsuits
Accusing me of pornography.

I dial emergency at nine-one-one
Who rushed to solve my woe;
They asked me how I knew,
Told them "A little birdy told me so."

The judge was not understanding,
So hear I perch in jail.
And I'll sell a special Coo-Coo clock
'Cause I just can't make bail.

Weeds...!
By Daniel C. Libeg

I cannot spurn the dandelion, nor curse it from the flowers.
Nor is the "weed" less deserving, of spring or summer showers.

The French named a tenacious weed "Tooth of the Lion!"
Having fought it tooth and claw, the king of the lawn resists denying.

A small yellow globe of flower is said to taint a lawn.
Yet so hardy it will prosper - long after the lawn is gone.

Never an ode or poets praise To a weed so unrefined;
And credits not to the flower - power of the delicious poor man's wine.

The aggressive green, cooked or raw, Is superbly more delicious;
Compared with showy produce greens, and vastly more nutritious.

When bloom is gone, a gray seed orb is all that's really there.
And on the slightest tease of breeze Dainty seed pirouette with flair.

Kindly grant a second look to the "Tooth of the Lion" flying.
And somehow - something different see: like the beautiful...Dandelion.