• Submit Poetry
  • Support SCP
  • About Us
  • Members
  • Join
Sunday, October 12, 2025
Society of Classical Poets
  • Poems
    • Beauty
    • Culture
    • Satire
    • Humor
    • Children’s
    • Art
    • Ekphrastic
    • Epic
    • Epigrams and Proverbs
    • Human Rights in China
    • Music
    • Performing Arts
    • Riddles
    • Science
    • Song Lyrics
    • The Environment
    • The Raven
    • Found Poems
    • High School Poets
    • Terrorism
    • Covid-19
  • Poetry Forms
    • Sonnet
    • Haiku
    • Limerick
    • Villanelle
    • Rondeau
    • Pantoum
    • Sestina
    • Triolet
    • Acrostic
    • Alexandroid
    • Alliterative
    • Blank Verse
    • Chant Royal
    • Clerihew
    • Rhupunt
    • Rondeau Redoublé
    • Rondel
    • Rubaiyat
    • Sapphic Verse
    • Shape Poems
    • Terza Rima
  • Great Poets
    • Geoffrey Chaucer
    • Emily Dickinson
    • Homer
    • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
    • Dante Alighieri
    • John Keats
    • John Milton
    • Edgar Allan Poe
    • William Shakespeare
    • William Wordsworth
    • William Blake
    • Robert Frost
  • Love Poems
  • Contests
  • SCP Academy
    • Educational
    • Teaching Classical Poetry—A Guide for Educators
    • Poetry Forms
    • The SCP Journal
    • Books
No Result
View All Result
Society of Classical Poets
  • Poems
    • Beauty
    • Culture
    • Satire
    • Humor
    • Children’s
    • Art
    • Ekphrastic
    • Epic
    • Epigrams and Proverbs
    • Human Rights in China
    • Music
    • Performing Arts
    • Riddles
    • Science
    • Song Lyrics
    • The Environment
    • The Raven
    • Found Poems
    • High School Poets
    • Terrorism
    • Covid-19
  • Poetry Forms
    • Sonnet
    • Haiku
    • Limerick
    • Villanelle
    • Rondeau
    • Pantoum
    • Sestina
    • Triolet
    • Acrostic
    • Alexandroid
    • Alliterative
    • Blank Verse
    • Chant Royal
    • Clerihew
    • Rhupunt
    • Rondeau Redoublé
    • Rondel
    • Rubaiyat
    • Sapphic Verse
    • Shape Poems
    • Terza Rima
  • Great Poets
    • Geoffrey Chaucer
    • Emily Dickinson
    • Homer
    • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
    • Dante Alighieri
    • John Keats
    • John Milton
    • Edgar Allan Poe
    • William Shakespeare
    • William Wordsworth
    • William Blake
    • Robert Frost
  • Love Poems
  • Contests
  • SCP Academy
    • Educational
    • Teaching Classical Poetry—A Guide for Educators
    • Poetry Forms
    • The SCP Journal
    • Books
No Result
View All Result
Society of Classical Poets
No Result
View All Result
Home Poetry Humor

‘Excuse My Excuse’: A Poem by Ken Gosse

September 2, 2023
in Humor, Limerick, Poetry
A A
3
poem/gosse/humor

.

Excuse My Excuse

An excuse—that’s a word to excuse
at those times when I need a good ruse
__which I’ll put to good use
__while I find some excuse
which will not leave folks singing the blues.

If the words I misuse are obtuse,
as they cruise, they’ll be hard to deduce.
__Such attempts to bemuse
__should be cause to recuse
so I won’t lose my head in a noose.

If the goose of the gander I choose
is the abstruse abuse of good booze,
__yet with anger profuse
__I may still be cut loose
and seduce them to hear all my schmooze.

But for now, they’ll refuse to reduce
the life sentence I’ll serve as recluse,
__where I won’t get to snooze
__or to shorten the fuse
of this unending rhyming abuse.

.

.

Ken Gosse was raised in the suburbs of Chicago and, now retired, he lives in Mesa, AZ. First published in First Literary Review–East in November 2016, since then in Lothlorien Poetry Journal, The Writers Club, Pure Slush, Home Planet News Online, Academy of the Heart and Mind, and others. 

ShareTweetPin
The Society of Classical Poets does not endorse any views expressed in individual poems or commentary.
Read Our Comments Policy Here
Next Post
A Poem on the New Round of ‘Covidiocy,’ by Susan Jarvis Bryant

A Poem on the New Round of 'Covidiocy,' by Susan Jarvis Bryant

poetry/mantyk/poetry contests

The 2023 SCP International High School Poetry Competition

poetry/mantyk/poetry contests

The 2023 Society of Classical Poets International Poetry Competition

Comments 3

  1. Roy Eugene Peterson says:
    2 years ago

    Amazing set of rhyming words! Well done and fun.

    Reply
  2. Paul A. Freeman says:
    2 years ago

    Here’s the news:
    with this poem Ken’s a poet whose
    now paid his dues.

    Nicely done, Ken.

    Reply
  3. Norma Pain says:
    2 years ago

    This is a wonderful tongue-twisting, clever poem which I thoroughly enjoyed. Thank you Ken.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  1. James A. Tweedie on Three Short Poems by Heinrich Heine, Translated by Josh OlsonOctober 12, 2025

    Josh, Years and years and many years ago when I was very much younger than I am now, there was…

  2. Margaret Brinton on ‘Profoundly Original’: A Poem on Saint Carlo Acutis by Margaret CoatsOctober 12, 2025

    I returned home from my California beach walk today to find this spiritually uplifting work from a California scholar. Thank…

  3. Paul Freeman on ‘Treasure Trove’: A Poem by Paul A. FreemanOctober 12, 2025

    Thanks for reading and for your positivity, jd. 'Mobile phones' would certainly fit the bill in this day and age.

  4. Paul Freeman on ‘Profoundly Original’: A Poem on Saint Carlo Acutis by Margaret CoatsOctober 12, 2025

    An inspiring story in an era where we could do with inspiring stories. Thanks rendering poetically the amazing events surrounding…

  5. Margaret Coats on ‘Profoundly Original’: A Poem on Saint Carlo Acutis by Margaret CoatsOctober 12, 2025

    Thanks, jd. Your comment is a good opportunity to say where to find a livelier view of the saint. The…

Receive Poems in Your Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 1,617 other subscribers
Facebook Twitter Youtube

Archive

Categories

Quick Links

  • About Us
  • Submit Poetry
  • Become a Member
  • Members List
  • Support the Society
  • Advertisement Placement
  • Comments Policy
  • Terms of Use

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Poems
    • Beauty
    • Culture
    • Satire
    • Humor
    • Children’s
    • Art
    • Ekphrastic
    • Epic
    • Epigrams and Proverbs
    • Human Rights in China
    • Music
    • Performing Arts
    • Riddles
    • Science
    • Song Lyrics
    • The Environment
    • The Raven
    • Found Poems
    • High School Poets
    • Terrorism
    • Covid-19
  • Poetry Forms
    • Sonnet
    • Haiku
    • Limerick
    • Villanelle
    • Rondeau
    • Pantoum
    • Sestina
    • Triolet
    • Acrostic
    • Alexandroid
    • Alliterative
    • Blank Verse
    • Chant Royal
    • Clerihew
    • Rhupunt
    • Rondeau Redoublé
    • Rondel
    • Rubaiyat
    • Sapphic Verse
    • Shape Poems
    • Terza Rima
  • Great Poets
    • Geoffrey Chaucer
    • Emily Dickinson
    • Homer
    • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
    • Dante Alighieri
    • John Keats
    • John Milton
    • Edgar Allan Poe
    • William Shakespeare
    • William Wordsworth
    • William Blake
    • Robert Frost
  • Love Poems
  • Contests
  • SCP Academy
    • Educational
    • Teaching Classical Poetry—A Guide for Educators
    • Poetry Forms
    • The SCP Journal
    • Books

© 2025 SCP. WebDesign by CODEC Prime.

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.