Tuesday, July 15, 2025

Rack 'em Up!

 Melissa is hosting Poetics in the dVerse Poets Pub ~ our challenge, to write poems about "sharks"

Unsplash ~ Susan Holt Simpson



A pool shark named Fats

[quite rotund]

claimed every last shot he had won

with a wink and a grin

he'd con them right in

then beat them while bragging for fun

he'd swagger and spin quite a tale

with charm that could flatten a whale

"no practice" he'd scoff

then knock the balls off

while sipping a Coke and an ale


* Minnesota Fats, aka as New York Fats, Broadway Fats and Chicago Fats was born Rudolph Wanderon, Jr.  The 1961 film "The Hustler" featured both Fats, played by Jackie Gleason and Fast Eddie Felson, played by Paul Newman




12 comments:

  1. 🤣🤣🤣 Made me laugh, Helen!

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  2. I hear he ate cue balls for the crunch. And then play cutthroat for lunch. A hoot!

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  3. A fun poem that reads like an extended limerick, Helen. I’ve never seen The Hustler, but I have heard of it. My husband used to play pool for the village pub, so we’ve met a few hustlers ‘with charm that could flatten a whale’.

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  4. I enjoyed your limericks. That’s a movie I have not seen. I will check it out.

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  5. You made Fats sound like a charm. Haha. Sharks cannot change their colors. Thanks Helen. Xo, selmamartin

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  6. This is wonderful, Helen. I love what you did with the prompt!

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  7. Helen - this really made me smile😃

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  8. Fabulous. You have such a knack for these, Helen! Brava!

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  9. Well done, Helen. A wonderful, humorous take. Robbie

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  10. Great characterization of a pool hustler. Saw that movie years and years ago. Paul Newman and Jackie Gleason in the same movie, yes!

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I appreciate each of you and the comments you leave ~~ thanks so much.