A Rhyme for All Reasons

This book encompasses diverse subjects such as Holidays and Names in the Headlines. It covers topics from Life' reflections "I can't believe it did arriveAnd yet today I'm forty five!How is it time can be so gaugedThat youthful me's now middle-aged! "to life with cancer "What a glamorous life I must endureReeking of 'eau de toilette' allure!And wouldn't it be a total farceTo have a radio-active 'arse'! "One section is dedicated to the special occasions of family & friends; birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, etc."It's as if Ogden Nash came back as a wise but cheeky New Yorker with a lifetime sub to the New York Post and a keg of green beer in his fridge. Maureen O'Keefe's poems cavort knowingly over the rocky terrain of life as it pans out for working people - evening 'pub girls', habitués of O'Malley's and the NYPD ­ as they struggle to understand the lure of the night, the acquittal of OJ, what keeps people together. O'Keefe is both ruthless and generous. She finds humor in desperate, real corners that would make ordinary verse-makers tremble. You might cry laughing." Carolyn Cooke, author of The Bostons