A Simple (Minded) Show-Off
I’m so simple,
Sharing part of all its sixty-seven synonyms.
I like to rhyme.
Not only that,
But like the rhymes to show!
I must be vain also.
Nothing subtle - ends of lines
Designed to look good. Viz,
When –ink, sticks out,
Flouting laws of taste,
Economy and waste,
Distinct and glaringly conspicuous,
I’m pleased, contented, satisfied
And gratified.
I’m such a show off -
Maybe superfic-ee-ell,
As well.
Too lazy to be bothered,
Take the trouble to research
And learn the art of ‘real’ writing –
Like the big guys do.
(Oh, dear, what rhymes with do,
Or writing, learn, or bothered?
Screw it! It’s exciting just to churn and
slither
Round, and under thought
And wonder,
Showing off each lime of rhyme…
Each line of rhyne?
(That’s dreadful.
Awful
AND pathetic!
I give up.)
To celebrate Prince William's 21st birthday, British poet laureate Andrew Motion wrote a two-part poem, "On the Record," with an A side and a B side:
ReplyDeleteA Side
Better stand back
Here's an age attack,
But the second in line
Is dealing with it fine.
It's a threshold, a gateway,
A landmark birthday;
It's a turning of the page,
A coming of age.
It's a day to celebrate,
A destiny, a fate;
It's a taking to the wing,
A future thing.
Better stand back
Here's an age attack,
But the second in line
Is dealing with it fine.
It's a sign of what's to come,
A start, and then some;
It's a difference growing,
A younger sort of knowing.
It's a childhood gone,
A step towards the crown;
It's a trigger of change,
A stretching of the range.
Better stand back
Here's an age attack,
But the second in line
Is dealing with it fine.
B Side
Is twenty-one the threshold any more?
Why not eighteen? Whatever. Most of us
Can choose which line we draw between the past
And future; we can call our lives our own.
But you're not 'most of us'. You cannot tear
Yourself from your inheritance, or pass
Unnoticed to find out what suits you best.
You stand apart but never stand alone.
That's what our 'happy birthday' means today:
A wish that you'll be free to claim your life
While destiny connects with who you are -
A Prince and yet familiar common clay;
Your father's heir but true to your own faith;
A mother's son and silvered by her star.