Dueling Christian-Jewish
Verse
The protagonists are The Washington PostÕs weekly humor columnist, Gene Weingarten, and
yours truly. First, there was the
email I sent him on May 15:
Hi
Gene,
On
the subject of todayÕs
column,
check these out:
And
as a bonus: April
in Washington
I
think your comic poems are really great, the best thing you do. I even
briefly stop missing Dave Barry when I read them.
WeingartenÕs column replaced that of the
generally much funnier Barry in the Sunday Washington
Post Magazine when the latter retired some years ago.
I got no response—at least none directly—but
my message to Weingarten might have produced some result, as reflected in my
May 22 email to him in reaction to his next column:
Well,
it looks like with my praise of your poetry I have moved you to do some more of
them with this weekÕs Rhymes
Against Humanity.
(That was the title in the print edition.) You, in turn, have inspired me
to attempt a ÒpokeÓ of my own:
A
smart young Jewish couple
Was
strolling by a church
When
a sign they saw out front
Stopped
them in a lurch.
ÒCome
in and be baptized,
And
we wonÕt make you rich,
But
weÕll give you a hundred dollars.Ó
Read
the enticing pitch.
The
man dropped all resistance,
And
was forthwith drawn inside
Against
the grave forebodings
Of his much more prudent bride.
Snapped
she upon his emergence,
ÒDid
you get your hundred, honey?Ó
Asked
he, ÒWhatÕs with you people
That
you only think of money?Ó
The ball is back in his court.
David Martin
May 22, 2016
Addendum
Weingarten has shown himself to be a good sport
with a good sense of humor. ÒA good
one,Ó was his short email reply to me today.
Having apparently passed the test with his new
ÒpokeÓ art form, I have asked him to have a shot at mine, the Twitter trifle.
ItÕs back in his court. This
request might test his sportsmanship a bit too much.
David Martin
May 24, 2016
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