The Rubaiyat of Ohow Dryyam / With Apologies to Omar

The poems present a comic, elegiac sequence of quatrains that lampoon temperance laws and the decline of public drinking, replacing wine with coffee, tea, and toast. The speaker alternates between nostalgic reminiscence about past conviviality and wry observations on bootlegging, moral reformers, and scarcity of alcoholic pleasures. Imagery of moons, taverns, and voyages toward the afterlife punctuates the humor with a mildly mournful awareness of mortality. Overall the collection uses parody of the classical quatrain tradition to critique social change while sustaining a light, ironic tone.