by Martin Anton Smith martinantonsmith@gmail.com

My name is “Et Cetera” I things like all things in the same vein or theme. 

My arch enemy is the evil “Inter Alia”, who likes to live amoungst other things that need not be mentioned. 

My neighbor “Ipso Facto” is a bore, obsessed with only dry facts leading to unarguable conclusions. 

However my delightful alter ego ‘Cognito Ergo Sum”, I cannot think better of! – a better man surely does not exist! 

The less said about “E Pluribus Unum” the better – that old flame is too obsessed with simplicity, always boiling things down. 

And finally a mixture of both good manners & schoolboy humor stops me from about “Annus Horriblis” at all.

This “stock” or “filler” Poem is worth a written apology it itself,

Which cynically can then be cut up & disseminated as seven individual “stock” “filler” poems,

I’m sorry dear reader but this is what you must put up with for the good,

For to get to the payable gold you have to shift at least a tonne of dirt.

Alas there will be no refunds at you local poetry dealer store –

The one that opens at 1pm and shuts at 3am – (standard liberal arts hours).

“A poetry store at the end of every street?

Surely this is just a ‘pipe dream’.

Sad the man who was ironically also smoking a pipe & unwittingly in the middle of a lucid dream.

I said “you are probably right, a poetry store on every corner is a pipe dream sir – I’d have to sell sewerage pipes for that”

To which the smoking lucid dreamer woke for his lucid dream & fittingly said

“Shit – where am I”

I said “you’re up caught in the middle of a shite poem that you can’t get out of”

To which the pipe smoking man looked up & said – “I agree that Latin shit up there that you wrote is totally stock, filler if you will”.

To which I replied “Don’t worry Sir, I’m belatedly putting this shite poem out of it’s misery”

To which he queried “Does this also mean I die?”

To which I replied in the affirmative.

He then said “Oh well, I had a good run”.

I promised him before brought the hammer down, that I might revive him in a future poem.

He said “ok, but next time can you write in a ‘hot mrs’ half my age?”

I said, hey hey sonny, I’m the hero of my own poetry ok – if anyone’s gettin’ that it’s me!”

Just as I hit save on the computer screen he managed to squeak out a nominal; “F you”.

I love it when characters come to life, saving a very bad poem from abject artistic obscurity.

I only hope some future critic will review it as

Poorly Written Personified Latin, Only Partially Saved