I am staring at a blank piece of paper, wondering what to write. Where do I begin? My mind begins to wander-pleasant thoughts of Disney's Fantasia dance in my head. The dancing hippopotamus comes to mind, and this made me laugh. The result: I penned a poem on the hippopotamus from which a chapbook was born: The Usefulness of Hippopotamus: A Humorous Chapbook for Trying Times.

One cannot imagine a world without humor. Without humor, the world will be dark, cold, and a sad place, tragically lacking joy, cheerfulness, and laughter.

Humor is medicine. During rough times, humor will help lighten and lessen physical and mental anxiety.

In challenging times, I chose humor. During the Pandemic, I had to deal with my bladder cancer. In my struggle not to get depressed or dwell in negativity, to find solace, contentment, and peace, I chose to seek out beauty and laugh.

In search of happiness, the humor worked its charm, resulting in a treasure chest of joy. So, I wrote my chapbook, The Usefulness of Hippopotamus: A Humorous Chapbook for Trying Times and discovered humor even among the hippopotami!

You can, too.

Peace & flowers.

Love & light.

Vincent J. Tomeo, Author/Poet

The hippopotamus, "Paving a route, creating streams, roads for other animals to navigate their way."

The humor has strains of Twain running throughout, mixed with simpler, childlike puns."

I will splash upon your walls to bring you golden light, / and whisper cryptic messages to help you walk between the shadows." -US REVIEW OF BOOKS

"The readers become part of this mix of reality and imagination; for example, the poem "Thirty Seniors at the Movie" describes a busy movie theatre, which the reader can see and listen to clearly."

"This book celebrates humanity by highlighting creativity, resilience, and relationships with one another." -PACIFIC BOOK REVIEW