An Inscription on a Poet’s Gravestone

"What really flatters a man is that
you think him worth flattering."
— George Bernard Shaw

The master poetaster, while gazing at the moon,
Would write such lofty verses that made the ladies swoon,
Using such lovely adjectives and nouns so bright,
Intoxicating everyone with his poetic sight.

The master poetaster—the king of kitsch and schlock—
Had written many volumes of ponderous gobbledygook,
And many will remember not what he really wrote,
But just the way he called them: “my fellow Master Poets.”

July 29, 2003
--Alexander Shaumyan