• Submit Poetry
  • Support SCP
  • About Us
  • Members
  • Join
Friday, September 4, 2026
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 Culture

‘What’s a Filibuster?’ by David Margolis

July 6, 2017
in Culture, Educational, Humor, Poetry
A A
4
poems 'What’s a Filibuster?' by David Margolis

 

It could be a horse thief, or maybe a rustler,
A card shark, a pimp, or a sleazy-eyed hustler.
A finish on wood that can add to its luster
Or moisture on metal that causes some ruster.
A Crème Brulee, or a Bavarian custard,
French sauce delicious with finest of mustard.
Your boss Phil, who is a Procrustean cruster.
Alas, you’d be wrong, but wait, please do not fluster.

In halls of the Congress when Senators cluster,
Their chins in each other’s long faces will thruster,
They’re blowing hot air like a tropical guster,
And Spittle from faces is flung in a fluster.
They hem and they haw and babble and bluster,
Succeeding as well as did General Custer,
Each side always groping for sixty to muster
While nothing gets done—now that’s a filibuster.

 

David Margolis retired from the practice of gastroenterology in 2013 to become a full time writer. His stories have appeared in The Canadian Medical Association Journal, JAMA: Internal Medicine, Missouri Medicine, HumorPress.com, Long Story Short, Still Crazy, and The Jewish Light of St. Louis. His first novel “The Myth of Dr. Kugelman” was published in October 2015. A second novel, “The Plumber’s Wrench,” is currently under review by an agent. He resides in St. Louis, MO with his wife Laura, two rescue kids, three small rescue dogs, and a set of golf clubs.

Continue Reading
ShareTweetPin
The Society of Classical Poets does not endorse any views expressed in individual poems or commentary.
Read Our Comments Policy Here

RandomPoems

The Top-Ten, Best, Most Popular Poems of Emily Dickinson People Should Read at Least Ten Times
Beauty

A Poem for Emily Dickinson, and Other Sonnets by Tamara Beryl Latham

December 13, 2021

. Tamara to Emily for Emily Dickinson We viewed the lighted houses well below, whose roads ran serpentine through mounding...

‘Pentadactyl’ and Other Poetry by Joe Spring
Beauty

‘Pentadactyl’ and Other Poetry by Joe Spring

August 12, 2018

  Pentadactyl 5-foot dactylic poem with a truncated fifth foot on the odd-numbered lines. With apologies to Pterodactyls. Dactyls are...

Next Post
‘Epistle to a Celt’ and Other Poetry by Morgan Downs

'Epistle to a Celt' and Other Poetry by Morgan Downs

‘Potpourri’ and Other Poetry by Joseph S. Salemi

'Potpourri' and Other Poetry by Joseph S. Salemi

‘Why Live This Long?’ by Michael Charles Maibach

'Why Live This Long?' by Michael Charles Maibach

Comments 4

  1. Amy Foreman says:
    9 years ago

    Made me smile!

    Reply
  2. David Hollywood says:
    9 years ago

    Humorous and ranging.

    Reply
  3. Sultana Raza says:
    9 years ago

    Witty!

    Reply
  4. Father Richard Libby says:
    9 years ago

    Well done – and pretty much accurate, at least according to the modern usage!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

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


  1. Cynthia L Erlandson on ‘The Cristero Centennial’: A Poem by Margaret CoatsSeptember 4, 2026

    Thank you for the excellent poetic history lesson, Margaret. May courage not fail us.

  2. Margaret Brinton on ‘The Cristero Centennial’: A Poem by Margaret CoatsSeptember 4, 2026

    Hello Margaret C. This is, indeed, an ominous poem. My mind returns to the relatively "innocent" mid-century decades when corruption,…

  3. Paul Freeman on ‘A Potpourri of Aphoristic Verses’ by C.B. AndersonSeptember 4, 2026

    Some creditable couplets ( if I can add to the descriptors of 'gnomic verses' and 'aphorisms'). The first half are…

  4. Paul Freeman on ‘The Cristero Centennial’: A Poem by Margaret CoatsSeptember 4, 2026

    Hi, Margaret. Like Jeremiah, I've read about this chapter of Mexican history through the lens of Graham Greene, so it…

  5. Dan C. Iulian on The Society of Classical Poets 2026 Haiku CompetitionSeptember 4, 2026

    night in the trenches – one cigarette butt passes from hand to next hand momijigari – along the old path…

Subscribe to Daily Poems

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

Join 1,635 other subscribers

Recent Poems

  • ‘The Cristero Centennial’: A Poem by Margaret Coats
  • ‘A Potpourri of Aphoristic Verses’ by C.B. Anderson
  • ‘The Estuary’: A Poem by Jeff Eardley
  • ‘A World Without the Wednesday Child’: A Poem by Kimberly Fore
  • The 2026 Society of Classical Poets International Poetry Competition
  • The 2026 SCP International High School Poetry Competition
  • ‘Realistic Reflections’ and Other Poetry by Anna J. Arredondo
  • ‘China Made’: A Poem by Theresa Werba
  • ‘The Savage Moon’ and Other Poetry by Brian Yapko
  • Poetry Book Review: Love Found, Yearned For, and Lost by James A. Tweedie
  • ‘When Opportunity Knocks’: A Poem by Roy E. Peterson
  • ‘Legend of the Griffin’: A Poem by Iryna Hall
  • ‘Government Issue’ and Other Poems by Joseph S. Salemi
  • ‘Chaucer Announces His Desire to Retire’: A Poem by Paul A. Freeman
  • ‘Advantages of Restaurants’ and Other Poems by Russel Winick
  • ‘Bone China’: A Poem by Mary Gardner
  • ‘On the Death of One Too Young to Die’: A Poem by Jeffrey Essmann
  • ‘This Too Shall Pass’ and Other Poetry by Justin Dasher
  • ‘Humdrum and Harum-Scarum’: A Lecture on Free Verse, by Robert Bridges (1922)
  • ‘Unrest On the Floodplain’: A Poem by Bhikkhu Nyanasobhano
  • ‘Latitude and Loss’: A Poem by Martin Briggs
  • ‘Act III’ and Other Poetry by C.B. Anderson
  • ‘God’s Funeral’: A Poem by James Sale
  • ‘Star Festival’: A Poem by Margaret Coats
  • ‘Song of the Frog Princess’: A Poem by Scharlie Meeuws
  • ‘The Odyssey: Nolan and Solot Compared’: An Essay by Michael Curtis
  • ‘Solitude’ and Other Poems by Mary Jane Myers
  • ‘The River Not Taken’ and Other Poetry by Brian Yapko
  • ‘Totentanz’: A Poem by James A. Tweedie
  • ‘In God Is Our Trust’: A Poem by Roy E. Peterson

Categories

  • Acrostic
  • Alexandroid
  • Alliterative
  • Art
  • Best Poems
  • Blank Verse
  • Chant Royal
  • Classical Poets Live
  • Clerihew
  • Covid-19
  • Deconstructing Communism
  • Educational
  • Epic
  • Epigrams and Proverbs
  • Essays
    • Interviews with Poets
    • Poetry Reviews
  • Featured
  • From the Society
  • Great Poets
    • Dante Alighieri
    • Edgar Allan Poe
    • Emily Dickinson
    • Geoffrey Chaucer
    • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
    • Homer
    • John Keats
    • John Milton
    • Robert Frost
    • William Blake
    • William Shakespeare
    • William Wordsworth
  • Human Rights in China
  • Limerick
  • Love Poems
  • Music
  • Pantoum
  • Performing Arts
  • Poetry
    • Beauty
    • Children's Poems
    • Culture
    • Ekphrastic
    • Found Poems
    • High School Poets
    • Humor
    • Riddles
  • Poetry Challenge
  • Poetry Contests
  • Poetry Forms
    • Curtal Sonnet
    • Haiku
  • Poetry Readings
  • Rhupunt
  • Rondeau
  • Rondeau Redoublé
  • Rondel
  • Rubaiyat
  • Sapphic Verse
  • Satire
  • Science
  • Sestina
  • Shape Poems
  • Short Stories
  • Song Lyrics
  • Sonnet
  • Symposium
  • Terrorism
  • Terza Rima
  • The Environment
  • Translation
  • Triolet
  • Video
  • Villanelle

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.