Selections from Trella Romine's library at Terradise Nature Center
Ray Romine Poems
Junior needs to be encouraged
When he sets him out to make things-
Little toys, fantastic gadgets,
Mostly messy and mistake things.
We admire and we applaud him
In his saw and hammer mayhem,
But his efforts force this question:
Must we, do you think, display them?
by Ray Romine Thursday, August 31, 1950
Let’s change the name of “Ground Hog Day”
To “Ground Dog Day”! Here’s why:
We’ll ground the dogs that holiday,
And let the soldiers fly!
by Ray Romine Sunday, January 21, 1945
A face that I can ne’er forget,
No matter how I try,
Is the one that from the mirror stares:
0 what a vain boy am I.
How tired I get of things each day
Seen over and over again;
Why shouldn’t I oughtta this mug of mine
Be getting sick of, then?
Well, p’raps I am, a little bit,
And maybe a change’d be welcome–
But, being male, I’ll spoil the face,
And spare the rouge and telme.
by Ray Romine Monday, April 26, 1943
Apple-pan Dowdy & Shoo-fly pies;
The Frim-fram Sauce, and those Buttermilk Skies–
Change that station– it’s just no treat
To be reminded there’s nothing to eat!
Armour’s Star Ham, and Swift’s Premium Bacon:
The radio is just nature-fakin’.
Personally, I think it’s sad
When they advertise what can’t be had.
So ignore all the dance-bands, whatever you do,
And skip the provision commercials too;
But tune in that opera (of soap they sing),
Where the hero has ulcers and can’t eat a thing!
by Ray Romine Monday, October 14, 1946
I sing your praises in my sleep;
But how you must deplore me!
The one thing that you couldn’t keep
Was my appointments for me.
by Ray Romine Saturday, March 31, 1951
Modern to the nth degree,
Our house still has the room
For grandma’s unchanged implement:
The straight old-fashioned broom.
And too there is a washboard
Beneath the basement stairs,
As well as other “relics”
In sundry hidden lairs.
And though of stumbling over
Such things, it’s true, we may tire,
They’re handy when our modern
Appliances go haywire!
by Ray Romine Saturday, September 15, 1951
When I was a youth, and callow,
I lived on blubber, fat and tallow;
But now I ‘m grown, I add a dish
By faring forth and spearing fish.
Sometimes I vary molar fare
By slicing steaks from polar bear.
I’d rather live on carrion
Than be a vegetarian.
Spinach
Would be my finach.
by Ray Romine Thursday, March 10, 1949
We all decry our lack of time,
Yet have, each one, to prove his worth,
The even span of one lifetime
To mark, for good or bad, this earth.
by Ray Romine Monday, May 1, 1950
Here lies Flo–she will have to atone some!
Now she’s in Hell, she will never be lonesome!
*written strictly in fun, mind.
by Ray Romine Friday, October 18, 1946
Here lies one postman, brought to naught
Because he “also-ran”.
When Donaldson and Congress fought,
He was the middleman!
by Ray Romine Tuesday, May 16, 1950