O Joy!
Occasional Verse from Joy Skilmer - Volume 1
By Lyn Nofziger
MND Publishing Inc.
32 pgs, US$6

Joy returns

By Steven Martinovich
web posted October 1, 2001

Former Reagan Administration official Lyn Nofziger was responsible for the most unique book to be reviewed by Enter Stage Right back in 2000. Unbridled Joy: The Verse of Joy Skilmer was an often-skillful collection of poetry that addressed newsworthy events that included, as I wrote in my review of that book, "events of the late 1990s and particularly with respect to all the shenanigans of the Clinton Administration. Whitewater, Charlie Trie, the Lewinsky saga, the impeachment hearings and the various personalities behind those major stories" all made an appearance.

The last page of that book made a remarkable offer. Any reader that responded was promised an "occasional batch of Joy Skilmer's verse." That promise was kept recently by MND Publishing Inc. with a fresh collection of Nofziger's recent work. Unlike the full-length book, O Joy! Occasional Verse from Joy Skilmer weighs in at 32 pages and is meant as a bonus for fans. Like Unbridled Joy, the new collection touches on several recent stories that include compassionate conservatism, the primaries, John McCain, gun control, the market crash in 2000, Jim Jeffords' departure from the Republican Party and the rampant problems at the FBI.

Taking on those who would tax foods considered to be unhealthy Nofziger writes:

I thought I'd never see the day
They'd try and tax my fat away,
Pass laws that say what I can eat.
Not too much starch, not too much meat,
But lots of veggies, lots of fruit
And foods for which I give no hoot.
Fanatics say that fat's a sin,
You can't be good unless you're thin,
And they've set out to make us so.
They know what's best for us, you know
And so they push their latest cause:
To choose our food with gov'ment laws.
But even though they do their worst
They won't succeed; we'll hang them first.

It's a sentiment I can support as much as his thoughts on the Jeffords defection when he writes: The lib'rals in the GOP/When needed most will turn and flee." At the risk of editorializing, Arizona Senator John McCain comes to mind whenever I read those two lines. Nofziger's prose may not remind you of Byron or Shelley, but it is fun while making a point at the same time.

You can order a copy of O Joy! Occasional Verse from Joy Skilmer - Volume 1 by sending $6 to MND Publishing Inc., 573 Marina Road, Deatsville, AL, 36022. You can also order Unbridled Joy: The Verse of Joy Skilmer for $14 through the publisher.

You can get a taste of Nofziger's poetry at his web site located at www.lynnofziger.com.

Steven Martinovich is a freelance writer and the editor of Enter Stage Right.

Order Unbridled Joy: The Verse of Joy Skilmer from Amazon.com for only $14

Other related stories: (open in a new window)

• Unbridled Joy: The Verse of Joy Skilmer reviewed by Steven Martinovich (August 7, 2000)
  Conservative poetry? Steve Martinovich reviews the efforts of the surprising author behind a recently released collection of prose

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