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/PoetThe 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.