Selections from Trella Romine's library at Terradise Nature Center
From our clothesline dance to and fro
The cleanest people one could know.
Of course, they are a trifle thin,
And flap sometimes with fearful din;
But from the way they wave and joke,
They must be very friendly folk.
by Ray Romine Tuesday, July 1, 1952
Tell me, my darling, if you’re bored:
Tell me when I misuse you;
For, of all the things I can ill afford,
I can least afford to lose you!
by Ray Romine Tuesday, October 22, 1946
Aunt Susan threw her paper down,
And glared at Uncle Zeke;
“Th’ Manpower Shortage MUST be bad:
You’re allowed 2 gals a week!”
by Ray Romine Saturday, April 1, 1944
All aboard, for now we’re going;
Put that suitcase in the rear.
Everyone’s serene but mother–
And I know that look, I fear.
Slam the door and start the engine;
Thence away? But then, alas,
Mother yells to wait a minute:
Who turned off the cook-stove gas?
When the kids are tucked in safely
And I’m settled with a book,
Mother snores, and starts, and wakes up:
“Was the gas out? Go and look.”
If the girls are ever perfect,
They will have their hats to doff
To the chap who turns their ranges
Automatically off!
by Ray Romine Monday, September 17, 1945
Although it make me little loved,
I do not care for being shoved.
Don’t push me into things I fear,
Especially not from the rear.
Don’t force, insist, demand. Instead,
See to it from the front I’m led
With promise, insincere and hollow:
The rear, I’ve found, will always follow.
by Ray Romine Tuesday, November 6, 1951
No action has
So little to it
But someone’s wife
Can misconstrue it.
by Ray Romine Monday, September 26, 1949
He trudges with the paper-boy;
The postman is his meat;
He is the milk-man’s shadow;
The neighborhood’s his beat.
Sometimes I think boys’ nearest
Relatives are mules–
They’ll follow almost everything
Excepting home-made rules!
by Ray Romine Wednesday, April 18, 1951
Artists take on new wives
When the old ones pall:
Are they changing models
Every spring and fall?
Barrymore had four wives;
Some actors many more:
Is it inspiration
All those wives are for?
She may discourage verses ,
But Flo knows how to look
Cute as any Christmas,
And Brother, can she cook?
I am pretty desp’rate–
Writing unbought stuff,
But–thanks–no brand-new women:
I have grief enough!
by Ray Romine Friday, November 23, 1945
Picture, picture on the wall,
I do not envy you at all;
Your frame’s okay, and all intact;
Your glass is hardly even cracked;
Your color’s right, no clashing, banging
With the room in which you’re hanging,
Yet, I repeat, you bring on me
Quite a mood of sympathy.
Your subject is what I decry:
The best that you can frame is I!
by Ray Romine Sunday, March 30, 1952
There’s a good side to whom- or whatever
We regard with a multiple hate;
The redeeming feature of Gossip:
The people it scared who go straight.
by Ray Romine Thursday, July 13, 1950