.    .    .  Bonjour,
              Banque de
              Bruxelles...

Bonjour,
beautiful
Betty!

               Benjamin
               Baker!

Barry
back?

               Barry's
               back—
               Bye!

Bye,
Betty!

                              Bonjour,
                              Ben!

Barry
Beauchamp—
Brussels'
best
broker!

                              (Barry
                               blushing)
                              Benjamin
                              Baker—
                           ­   Boston's
                              best
                              businessman!

Brokerage
balanced,
­Barry?

                              Been
                      ­        better ...

Been
better?
Bad?!

                              Below
    ­                          benchmark :-(

Bygones
be
Bygones ...

Bullish
bearing,
Barry?

                              Best
                              be
                              b­ullish,
                              Ben!

Better
be
bullish,
Ba­rry!
Brokerage
best
buy?

                              Best
                              buy?
                             ­ Bonds!

Best
buy
bonds?!
"Be
bullish"
Barry?

                              Brigh­thouse
                              baby
                              bonds!
                           ­   

Brighthouse
baby
bonds?

                              BHFAL­—
                              Balanced,
                       ­       beneficial
                              buy.

Baby
bonds
­bad
bet,
Barry.
Best
bullish
buy?

                              ­Bitcoin!

Bitcoin
bites,
Barry!
Bloomberg
broadcasted
Bitcoin's
b­ubble
bursting.
Best
bullish
buy,
BARRY??

                      ­        Bullion
                              bars?
                            ­  British
                              Britannia?

"Be
bullish,"­
Barry!!
BEST
BULLISH
BUY??

                              BlackR­ock,
                              Buffett's
                    ­          Berkshire—
                              Better
       ­                       believe,
                              bot­h
                              bullish
                          ­    buys!

Bingo!
BlackRock,
Berkshire—
Buy
both!
BOOYAH!!

     ­                         Bought!

Better
be
bullish,
Barry!
Bye!
­
                              Bientôt,
                         ­     Ben!


© 2020 by Mark Toney. All rights reserved.

In the perpetual pursuit
of planetary pleasures,
a purported supporter of such
paranormal potions must
ponder: is pleasure, in principle,
the peak,
or perhaps is it a journey,
from point O to point P
purposely pouncing to provide
pyromaniacs with plentiful
planks for the pyre.

Marvelous, matchless, magical, moonlit midnight,
With a superabundance of sparkly, summery stars,
Peacefully placid, pure and prettily plummy,
Radiantly rich, rhapsody resplendent rapture!
Fragrant flowers frolic freely in your fervence,
Eye-catching and exquisite in their exuberance,
Bouncing blissfully in breezy, blooming ballet.
Inexhaustible and intoxicating and intriguing,
Dazzling and delightful, and doubtlessly dreamy

Words were worthless when our whimsical wishes got vanquished by distance, draining dreams of us together. Darling! We didn't dare draw an inch closer. Catastrophe came, crushing us to the core..covid! Covid! Consistent callous company for months on and on flying far in fantasy, fingers flailing and fumbling for a faint trace of reality in which you were absent, folly! The agony and ache in every atom ate away at me as acid on iron. Ah! La! Love again, loses my lavish language, leaving lips ludicrous, lying, loquacious and the tongue tied, terrified to tell the truth..Darling! Dare me to delude you for I am desperate to devour you in this dream; Delusion! Delusion! Bare bitter bold brutality crushing the dream, crashing hard in our core..covid! covid! Dear! despite it all, don't doubt the divine dream, don't doubt that I love..

Gangly ghouls and ghastly ghosts.

Grimy goblins, gremlins gross.

A graphic, grizzly gallery

Of grim and gruesome, giggling glee.

Placed on pristine pedestal.
Its posture proud,
Its presence phantasmic.
Its position?

Precarious.