Taylor Mali poetry

Followed a link from muffyjo to poet Taylor Mali's website.

I have found there this poem, and I quite like it:
“How Falling in Love is like Owning a Dog.”

I read all the free samples on his site, and I find that the poems I liked the best have this in common: They all hide a little joke in the first "stanza", then go on to draw interesting parallels that illuminate both sides of the compared subjects. They leave behind the "jokiness" after that one taste and avoid triteness as well.


"Because crooks and muggers think love is unpredictable."

"my father understood combination locks and keys. / Yes, he was a Yale man."

I also very much liked this one, which did not have a joke in the first few lines.