A hometown favorite is returning to Kansas City this weekend. Journalist and author Calvin Trillin will be at the Jewish Community Center on Sunday to promote his new book of “deadline poetry” about this year’s presidential election.

Trillin has been writing political poetry for The Nation for years, and “Dogfight: The 2012 Presidential Campaign in Verse” is his third book of poetry that follows a presidential election.

The colorful nature of the candidates populating the Republican primary, along with some luck with their names, gave him a good start.

“They had nice names — Mitt, Newt — those kind of names. I would have been in bad shape if the Romneys had decided to call their son by his first name, Willard, instead of his second name, Mitt, because Willard doesn’t rhyme with anything, and the meter’s not good,” Trillin said.

Despite that, no one matched the rhyming potential he had when writing about former Sen. John Sununu several years ago, when he penned the poem “If You Knew What Sununu,” he said.

A number of events during the campaign also made for good material, including Romney’s famous 47 percent gaffe.

“There’s pretty much always something going on, because of the fact that nowadays, partly because of the Internet and smartphones in the room when you think they aren’t. There’s constantly a mini-scandal,” he said. “People like me in the small joke trade, we look on things that might not be good for the country, but are entertaining, the way dentists look at tooth decay — it’s a pity, but where would business be without it?”

Because of its subject, Trillin wanted to get the book out to readers as quickly as possible after the election. He turned in his final draft that Thursday. Because of his regular poetry gig at The Nation, he’s used to writing verse on a deadline.

“Remarkably, it actually existed as a hardcover book the next Tuesday. I told my editor I take back almost everything I’ve ever said about the inefficiency of the publishing industry. Not everything — I reserve a few things,” he said.

After his current book tour, he plans to take some time off to visit one of his daughters in Mexico and take a trip to Rome.

“One of the pleasures of being a grandfather that I hadn’t realized is how much fun it is to see your children as parents,” he said.

He gets back to Kansas City about once a year and enjoys visiting his sister, nephew and many cousins who still live in the area.

After his vacation, Trillin’s next project will probably be a piece for The New Yorker about “a nice murder. Nice for me, not for the guy who got killed,” he said.

Although he has lots of fans, many of them read just one of the many genres he covers — his essays, the deadline poetry, his books on food or others. He does get a lot of comments on the tribute he wrote about his late wife, “About Alice.”

“I sort of enjoy the variety. It’s very satisfying to write a long reporting piece, but it’s fun to write a piece of humor. The subject for me sort of controls the form of what I’m writing,” he said.

Sunday at the JCC

Calvin Trillin will speak at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 9, at the Jewish Community Center in the White Theatre. Admission is $16 (plus tax) and includes a copy of the book. For tickets, contact Rainy Day Books at www.rainydaybooks.com/CalvinTrillin or 913-384-3126.