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Desert Island

By |Posted Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2000, at 3:00 AM ET

What would you take to a desert isle,
my teacher wanted to know
I told her my Bible. That made her smile.
A copy of Robinson Crusoe!

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She liked that one too. I mentioned my dog.
And pictures of Grandma and Grandpa.
She wept. Her glasses started to fog
and a tear ran into her bra.

I mentioned my schoolbooks, and gave her a grin.
She looked at me and squinted.
She wanted the truth? Two bottles of gin
and every Playboy ever printed.

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Andrew Hudgins' most recent book is Shut Up, You're Fine: Poems for Very, Very Bad Children. His new book American Rendering: New and Selected Poems is due out in April.  He teaches at the Ohio State University.