[Editor’s Note: Dr. Hoult, the Poet Laureate of Culver City, never allows a holiday to slip by unrewarded, especially St. Patrick’s Day.]
The first poem is dedicated to my step-daughter.
The second poem is self-explanatory, and grew out of my teaching in Seoul and Pusan, Korea, for USC and Cal State L.A.
It does, however, need to be read with an Irish brogue!
The Wearing' o' the Green
Lovely lady with red hair; young woman with green eyes
What do your green eyes show?
Covetousness?
Jealousy?
Are your eyes
Green with envy?
Green with the desire to have him for yourself alone?
Have I, too, been afflicted by the Green Disease?
Watching you stroke my husband’s ego?
Watching you preen yourself to shine in his regard?
Have we allowed our inner souls to become
bronzed with a coat of green rust –
verdigris green?
How sad that the green eyes
reflect envy and not
Le couleur de l’esperance – the hopeful color.
Hope is what I offer you this spring day.
Hope that the all consuming green of envy
is replaced by the green of growth, hope, love.
And hope that you will soon find a third husband of your own.
O’Kim’s
By Dr. Janet Hoult 1/2013
While at O’Kim’s Irish Pub
In Pusan, South Korea
My colleagues told some Irish jokes
That had us saying “Oh, deah…!”
Here’s one about Paddy, an Irish cook
Who was making bean soup for a group
His friend, Mehaul, gave him directions
And had Paddy count the beans in his scoop
The soup was for a great big party
Mehaul said 239 beans were enough
Because if Paddy added just one more
then it would be 240…!
Dr. Hoult may be contacted at HOULTight@aol.com
