Shakespeare and I go out drinking one night.
It is cold, so I offer Shakespeare my
Long coat to brave the cold and snowy gloom.
(He is wearing those fancy pantaloons
With long gartered stockings--so inappro-
Priate.) But we end up only at the
Corner Tesoro to buy some cheap beer.
"Firke!" Shakespeare exclaims, "Wherefore art we here!"
"Well you're the one with the coin," I say punch-
Ing his arm. "I am but a poor fool, lack-
Ing that which would profer us more profit-
Able imbibment." "Heave over," he cries,
And calls a cab, so we wander into
The dark night, seeking Queen Mab, or good beer.
And those hyphenated line breaks are on purpose.
ReplyDelete"...it is simply not conceivable to break a line in the middle of a word just to serve the form."
ReplyDeleteLove this, also. If you wrestle with it (see your earlier poem) you could probably get it into a sonnet with rhymes, as you already have some slant, and even exact, rhyme action happening. have you read Galway Kinnell's poem about eating oatmeal with Keats?
ReplyDeletere: the second quote about breaking words for a rhyme--I think it's fun and hilarious. who said that?
Well I conciously avoided rhyme (thus the title.) I'm not sure why I didn't want to make a sonnet. It has something to do with the Shakespeherian tribute, I think. The 14 lines was a tease, however. It has run as long as 24, but I've cut the fat out. (Not, of course that it doesn't need a huge amount of work).
ReplyDeleteAs for the quotation, it is from some website somewhere. I think it was a haiku site. It is totally decontextualized, of course, but it sounded good to throw in.
Now as for breaking words to serve form, that's part of the joke of the poem, I suppose. Its not a very funny joke, I must admit.
Oh and yes, I know that innell poem, but didn't really think of it while sitting with my fluffy plume feather pen to compose this one.
ReplyDelete