Even the funny stuff is inspired by the Lord. I try to write about everyday ordinary things that may inspire another or allow them to identify with it.

ÒWinding DownÓ is one way of describing my life and the lives of my friends here in our retirement community. Ans and I moved into Ashby Ponds four years ago and have thoroughly enjoyed life in what feels like a permanently moored cruise ship. Although the subject matter is largely influenced by my fellow residents, it includes occasional glimpses of the outside world. I trust that this latest collection still brings new insight into the human condition with particular emphasis on aging. This collection of short rhyming poems is arranged alphabetically, and includes birthday and holiday wishes, eulogies, patriotic and religious observations, vignettes of fellow residents and much more, all in rhyme.

From the widely acclaimed poet, novelist, critic, and scholar, a lucid and edifying exploration of the building blocks of poetry and how they've been used over the centuries to assemble the most imperishable poems • “Anyone wanting to learn how to remodel, restore, or build a poem from the foundation up, will find this room-by-room guide on the architecture of poetry a warm companion.” —Tomás Q. Morín, author of Machete We treasure our greatest poetry, Brad Leithauser reminds us in these pages, "not for its what but its how." In chapters on everything from iambic pentameter to how stanzas are put together to "rhyme and the way we really talk," Leithauser takes a deep dive into that how—the very architecture of poetry. He explains how meter and rhyme work in fruitful opposition ("Meter is prospective; rhyme is retrospective"); how the weirdnesses of spelling in English are a boon to the poet; why an off rhyme will often succeed where a perfect rhyme would not; why Shakespeare and Frost can sound so similar, despite the centuries separating them. And Leithauser is just as likely to invoke Cole Porter, Stephen Sondheim, or Boz Scaggs as he is Chaucer or Milton, Bishop or Swenson, providing enlightening play-by-plays of their memorable lines. Here is both an indispensable learning tool and a delightful journey into the art of the poem—a chance for new poets and readers of poetry to grasp the fundamentals, and for experienced poets and readers to rediscover excellent works in all their fascinating detail. Portions of this book have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, and The New York Review of Books.

This re-issue of Julian Franklyn's classic dictionary not only defines these expressions but also explains their origin and history. An introductory essay examines the roots and development of rhyming slang. Although many people assume that rhyming slang is exclusively Cockney, Franklyn illustrates how it is common to Australian and Americn dialects. From the unlikely to the bizarre, the 1,500 entries both entertain and enlighten. Cartoons enliven a reference section which combines linguistic detail and cultural analysis. Whether reading the dictionary from cover to cover, or dipping into it as a reference tool, linguists and students of popular culture will find it the definitive source of information on rhyming slang.