Amy Kitchener's Angels Without Wings Foundation
Presents the
2008-2009 NATIONAL SENIOR POET LAUREATE RUNNER UP
and
2008-2009 MISSOURI SENIOR POET LAUREATE


Edwin S. Rice

Supermarket Saturday


His eighty years regarded me, I'm sure,
As fifty years of at-their-mercy sap;
And thus we took the supermarket tour
On Saturdays before my father's nap.
I'd trail his steps and listen while he'd state
The facts on melons while he'd thump their side.
"The fools," he'd say. "They picked this one too late,"
Then proudly choose another that he spied.

But reading labels -- that's what took the time--
He'd show me how to figure price and weight,
And how his wise computing saved a dime.
I'm thinking: Dad, it's getting kind of late.
On thinking back, what was my hurry then?
I'd love to hear that melon-thump again.
Edwin S. Rice
Kansas City, Missouri

EDWIN S. RICE, 86, Kansas City, Missouri, a talespinner and occasional serious sonneteer who uses rhyme and meter to entertain readers with witty, warm and masterfully crafted depth is a retired stone mason. He belongs to Missouri State Poetry Society and is return SPL winner. He is a Gemini.