Ambrose Bierce 
Black Beetles in Amber (Barnes & Noble Digital Library) 

The poems in this 1892 collection by the author of The Devil’s Dictionary often deal with topical events and personalities—while some display his dark wit, others are light and amusing. “The order in which the beetles are shown, ” as the author puts it, includes “The Key Note, ” “Cain, ” “An Obituarian, ” “A Commuted Sentence, ” “A Lifted Finger, ” “Two Statesmen, ” and many more.

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