Some strange answer

Last Happy Monday in Mag:net, Kristian A-be said, "I found a poem by this Valentine person."

"Oh yeah?" I asked through a mouthful of pan de sal.

"It's called Sasha and the Poet."

Needless to say, bits of bread shot out of my nose. Oh well. 'Twas for Art's sake.

*

SASHA AND THE POET

by Jean Valentine

Sasha: I dreamed you and he
Sat under a tree being interviewed
By some invisible personage. You were saying
'They sound strange because they were lonely,
The seventeenth century,
That's why the poets sound strange today:
In the hope of some strange answer.'
Then you sang, 'hey nonny, nonny, no' and cried,
And asked him to finish. 'Quoth the potato bug,'

He said, and stood up slowly.
'By Shakespeare.' And walked away.