What is a comedian doing writing poetry? I often ask myself the same question. I suppose it's just something I can't help doing. In fact, I have always written. As a kid growing up in Chicago, I wrote stories for my own amusement. Later, when work as an actor was scarce, I wrote for Steve Allen. Along the way, I read and appreciated poetry, but never really tried my hand at writing it until late in my "other" career, teaching writing in USC's Master of Professional Writing program. From there, I continued to write on any subject that caught my fancy. At last, I had enough poems to put...