unlike
other
boys

alan
ireland




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At ends of hurtling lines,
you save my words from sui-
cide by catapulting syl-
lables to safety at the rear.

At other times, you play
the go-between, all prim
and proper as you chaperone
new concepts into print,

preserving to the point
of pedantry your place
betwixt the twain: A cause
of endless argument. And pain.