One Man’s Play is his Neighbor’s Labor (a poem of silly American English spellings)
One Man’s Play is His Neighbor’s Labor
(a poem of silly American English spellings)
He would have / should have chopped some wood
and would have, if he only could.
A livelihood of chopping wood would
likely be misunderstood
by those who live in his neighborhood
whose labor for their livelihood
feels more like floating on driftwood.
He noted that their income’s good,
not having fought for what they’ve got
(a yacht named “We Just Tied the Knot”)
which left him fraught with just one thought
atop his head like a 60-watt:
That someone surely chopped the wood
that made his neighbor’s fancy yacht,
which now he knew was headed straight
for the passage known as Taiwan Strait.
And as they cruised, his thoughts defused,
and then he snoozed, quite unamused.
And then he bought a nice hot brat,
and gave it not another thought.
© Marie Elena Good 2025
ood and ould make the same vowel sound: would, wood, could, should, good, livelihood, driftwood, neighborhood, understood
a, ai, ay, ait, aight, ey, and eigh make the same vowel sound: play, straight, Strait, labor, they, neighbor
o, a, augh, ough, ach, ot, and att make the same vowel sound: chopped, on, got, not, knot, hot, yacht, fraught, bought, thought, atop, watt, brat
live and live make a different vowel sound in these words: live, and livelihood
ote and oat make the same vowel sound: note, float
not and knot sound the same
u, ui, ew, and oo make the same vowel sound: knew, cruise, defuse, snooze, amuse
defuse, snooze, cruise, and amuse also all make the z sound
The e at the end of like gives the i its long sound, but not the i in live, unless it is the verb live (I need food to live) and not the adjective live (We are going live in 10 minutes)
The ai in Strait makes the long a sound, but the ai in Taiwan makes the long i sound. (In all fairness, Taiwan is not an American English word. wink wink.)
PHEW!
pictured words 