by H.G. Peterson

While I was Strolling in a Park

Cultures may collapse and go for many diverse reasons:
Poor crop growth and yield due to the colder winter seasons;
Ignorant they don’t adapt to climate alteration;
As a result of conquest or extreme deforestation

Consider Easter Island with its famous statue heads
Once a complex society but mostly wound up dead
Getting rid of all the trees might once have seemed a notion
Yet here they now are gone because of massive soil erosion

Norse Greenland held promise because Vikings loved to farm
And little did they realize that cute sheep would do them harm
Constant fights with Inuit, the chilling of the Earth
After 1300 of the Vikings there’s a dearth

Mayans were before our time a mighty New World nation
The ones who had a proud and literate civilization
Some war, some drought, some fighting in the proudest noble classes
Leaves nothing of the Maya but poor ruins under grasses

And of course this modern world still faces these same troubles
Will our cities all endure, or will they end in rubble?
Environment and population problems must be solved
Lest we all die out for our failure to stand and evolve

We will see if we can reach a pinnacle most high
Or if like the ol’ Aztecs we’ll collapse and then all die

by H.G. Peterson

H.G. Peterson is the world’s greatest living helicopterist. Throughout all of Asia he is loved and adored for skill in piloting helicopters. He can fly all sorts of helicopters; blue ones, red ones and even a striped one once.

“I’m Going to Berlin”

The Solar System has planets nine
About the Sun they take their time

Mercury, the closest in
Flies ‘bout real fast, and has slow spin

Next comes Venus, with cloudy sky
Its temperatures are very high

Now there’s Earth, our home sweet home
There’s grass and you and Styrofoam™

Mars is fourth, and really red
It may have life, but is likely dead

Asteroids are this far out
It’s too far ‘tween them for you to shout

King of Planets, Jupiter is gas
There is no ground to grow some grass

Saturn is large, with many rings
And home to other interesting things

The name Uranus sure is funny
But it’s skies are hardly sunny

Blue and beautiful is Neptune
And quite too large to fit in your room

Pluto is tiny and really quite strange
About it in a car you could easily range

Kuiper Belt objects are icy and cold
Much too much so for bread to grow mold

Far out in space, the Oort Cloud is found
This is where comets spend time flying ‘round

And so you can see, with the Sun at the center
The Solar System’s neatness gets better and better

by the Master of Words
H.G. Peterson

H.G. Peterson, a former show girl and librarian, was recently busted down to Middle Management for conduct unbecoming of a poet. Once he met Calvin Coolidge at a charity cake walk.

“Humble Deductions on a Rainy Cyan Day”

I
Yes, the first’s the most famous, there can be no doubt
For the abridgement of freedom it so rules out
Assembly, speech, religion, petition and press
A good amendment to have, so I must confess

II
The second’s the topic of a lot of debate
From those who love firearms and those filled with hate
The right to keep and bear arms is clearly stated
It’s still being continually debated

III
Then there is the third that is so often ignored
It concerns troops, specifically their room and board
So when a weary soldier goes to rest his head
You can be sure as hell it is not in my bed

IV
Number four is why a warrant’s needed by cops
To search your person, papers, effects, house or crops
No searches or seizures without probable cause
And Congress can make no contradictory laws

V
That there Fifth Amendment is a wonderful thing
It says even a caged bird does not have to sing
Double jeopardy’s banned and due process stated
Habeas Corpus declared, grand juries created

VI
The right to fair trial in criminal prosecutions
That good number six is one of the perfect solutions
Confront your accuser, even though he be large
You’ll be sure to know each and every last charge

VII
Seven sounds silly in modern comprehension
Even during the height of our Nation’s Depression
Jury and judge examine the case without hollers
In any case brought which exceeds twenty dollars

VIII
Eight makes sure you don’t pay too much money
When you go do something wrong there, sonny
It won’t cost too much for you to get out of jail
Because this amendment prevents too much bail

IX
With all these rights protected each line by line
You’ll be sure to like jolly old number nine
‘Cause listing rights protected in this Bill of Rights
Can’t keep others from out of the people’s sights

X
Good Ten keeps rights flowing at a really high rate
When the powers not reserved are devolved to each State
If the Fed doesn’t have them, the States have the might
And thus ends the magnificent U.S. Bill of Rights