Amanda Laughtland

4 poems

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For a Fighting Man


While Sergeant Smith cooks up
surprises for the Nazis, his mother works

on her own surprise, a spot for Smith
to read and write, an attic room

lined in warm ponderosa pine.
Write the Western Pine Association

to meet other loving mothers
busy improving homes and lives.

**

Make Electrical Cords Last Longer


To treat cords properly, anyone
can follow these illustrated directions
to replace worn coverings, splice

and make new connections
between plug and cord. Knowing how
to undertake simple repairs

will save you countless worries
over the electrician who can't be there.

**

Please Drive Carefully


You'd take care if you ran
a machine making airplane parts--

slow down! Rubber is scarce
and bumpers use valuable metal.

Think of giving your car
a rest. How about some tokens

for the bus? Why not hoof it?

**

MGM's Best Girl


Outside of the phenomenon
of Miss Lana Turner, if you reflect
on her latest picture, it isn't

about anything at all but Lana
in love and out, brunette and blonde,
dressed and undressed. It must

be conceded the boys will agree
the sister is surely a trouper.

**

return to sawbuck 1.4

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Amanda Laughtland lives near Seattle. Her chapbook, I Meant to Say, is available from overhere press. Her poems are also to be found in recent installments of 21 Stars Review, 42opus, Eratio, No Tell Motel, and Shampoo.