I didn't have to choose this particular poem by the prolific Scottish poet and novelist George Macbeth. He wrote many excellent poems that I like very much, any one of which would have been a fine addition to his project. But I just happen to like this strange little verse of his a great deal, and I just couldn't resist choosing it.

Besides, thought I, it is vintage Macbeth, who is described in Benet's Reader's Encyclopedia as "best known for ingenious, explosive, witty, and often savage verse," and in an item that I found at www.encyclopedia.com as demonstrating "an exciting lack of restraint."

Macbeth was a fine poet, better known in England than in the United States, having been a producer at BBC responsible for poetry programming for over 20 years. I know nothing about him as a person. But I can't help thinking whenever I read his verse that he must have been quite a character. We will visit his poetry again in these pages. In the meantime, please enjoy this curious poem.