Bardic poem for the women of improv

Bardic poem for the women of improv to be read aloud with a 17th century Irish accent:

Lion Tamers

From the comfort of a chair

One glances toward the sun

Where wombs skirt souls that strut

To entertain last and remind first

That life begins with each new impulse

To breathe

Each breath another new life

Conveying upon exhale

Waves on which words rock

Then submerge

Then pop up

To support birds that sing

Shared songs

On branches of trust

Women with their whisked tongues

Lick your loins

Make you lion laugh

The following is just a sampling of women improvisers who make me laugh:

Angela Couch
Lauri Roggenkamp
Zabeth Russell
Anne Gregory
Shulie Cowen
Carrie Clifford
Annie Kouris
Bridget Kloss
Jessica Makinson
Molly Erdman
Jill Alexander
Erin McGathy
Molly Hawkey

Feel free to add to the comment field the lion's share of yours.

And enjoy this villanelle for Brad Morris and Jean Villepique.

Villanelle for Brad Morris and Jean Villepique

Choose an improv duo to adore
Comprised of two grand talents in a row 
Morris/Villepique through Mainstage door  

Aft Razowsky, Clifford grace the floor
Order drinks and bask in glory's glow
Choose an improv duo to adore

While practicing improv and improv lore

You have no reason not to up and go
Morris/Villepique through Mainstage door

There's not a group of two you ought see more 
And double two will surely, amply flow 
Choose an improv duo to adore

To glean from those who've mastered "it" before
Dave, Carrie, Brad and Jean make one big show Morris/Villepique through Mainstage door

 Experience the wit or pay the score 
Be grateful that it costs so little dough
Choose an improv duo to adore
Morris/Villepique through Mainstage door

Brad Morris and Jean Villepique of Morris/Villepique can be seen the first two Mondays in October at 9pm on the IO West Main Stage right after the legendary Razowsky and Clifford.

Villanelles (real ones) and other poetic forms may be found at poets.org.

Cento for Phillip Wilburn

I've heard it in the chillest land,

And on the strangest sea;

Illuminating all the motionless world of Time between

Touch it: it won’t shrink like an eyeball

Yet knowing how way leads on to way

I stand amid the roar

Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay

I hear the gush of air

That sleeps, a mimic echo, in the shell

Home for now. Hidden in weeds

The place where the sidewalk ends

Beside the white chickens

A cento is a poem comprised solely of other poems.

Phillip Wilburn is an impressionist who takes on the persona of any one of a myriad celebrities and characters, including Donald Trump, Charlie Sheen, Arnold Schwarzenegger, John Edwards, Al Gore, George Bush, Bill Clinton, Muammar Gaddafi, Tim Gunn, Jeff Foxworthy, Homer Simpson, Austin Powers, Kermit the Frog, Elmo, scores of others and perhaps soon the Pixar lamp.

Wilburn is the executive producer, staff writer and impersonator exceptionnel on Top Story! Weekly, which is a live sketch show based on the previous week’s news every Sunday night at 9 on the iO West Main Stage. It's actually how I get my news.

Holy Istanbul!

Good news, good news. 

Ode to Kate Flannery

In leotard and soft delusions dance
Red pants and hair and lips and heart for him
Despite all claims of cool indifference
To Paul Masson Grande Amber or his kin

You slant-smile, sing and joke with sublime grace
And high-pitch squeal and squat and wince and hum
You show us gals just how to love a liya

Asleep and unaware of your sweet taste
You inspire in us the quest to be your chum
Or catch a wink while you croon “Light My Fiya"

If you haven’t seen Kate Flannery from NBC's The Office and Scot Robinson of Anchorman perform as Kassie and Hori in "The Lampshades," you can bask in their whimsy and smarm, live, one Saturday each month at iO West in Hollywood.

And you can see Kate Flannery perform tonight on the 2011 Emmy Awards where all kinds of improvisers, including iO alum like Tina Fey, will vie for acquisition of the coveted statue.