I composed this poem on a rainy evening.
My friends said: "This is not poetry at all!"
Dad, too, was not the least convinced:
"Bad piece of work, my son. Improve."
And mother was particularly scathing:
"Bland and pointless. Drop it in the bin."
There was no hope in profs' words either:
"Care to hear my say? This is pure stool."
"But why?" I cried, "How's this not poetry?"
"That is quite evident", they all answered,
"A poem has a rhyme scheme, young man.
ABAB, AABB, ABBA, ABABB -- you name it.
Show us the rhymers in your - er - poem."
"So that was yer charge, eh?" said an irate I.
"Then 'tisn't my fault, sirs and ma'ams, that
When a poem stares you in the face, ye
Can't tell it is one. Bad 'nough ye didn't
Grant my piece its poetry status. Worse --
All ye pundits found it self-satisfying to
Call it a worthless frill and brand me a fake.
Worst -- ye all failed to notice that the
First words in each pair of lines rhyme!"
My friends said: "This is not poetry at all!"
Dad, too, was not the least convinced:
"Bad piece of work, my son. Improve."
And mother was particularly scathing:
"Bland and pointless. Drop it in the bin."
There was no hope in profs' words either:
"Care to hear my say? This is pure stool."
"But why?" I cried, "How's this not poetry?"
"That is quite evident", they all answered,
"A poem has a rhyme scheme, young man.
ABAB, AABB, ABBA, ABABB -- you name it.
Show us the rhymers in your - er - poem."
"So that was yer charge, eh?" said an irate I.
"Then 'tisn't my fault, sirs and ma'ams, that
When a poem stares you in the face, ye
Can't tell it is one. Bad 'nough ye didn't
Grant my piece its poetry status. Worse --
All ye pundits found it self-satisfying to
Call it a worthless frill and brand me a fake.
Worst -- ye all failed to notice that the
First words in each pair of lines rhyme!"
12 comments:
[Broooooooooooooooooooooad Smile] Amazing!! Typical Nirmal type :) A twist in the tail ;) Wonderful!! :) I was initially surprised there was no meter.. But that would have spoilt it!! Great... Keep it up!
nice one.
rhyme and meter make poetry a pleasure to read. but otherwise also, same content as a poem is easy to read than as a prose. for some reason they give a different feel. i could never figure out why.
guess poetry gives us freedom to talk whatever one wants to.
Po,
Thank you. But who writes with meter these days? Just because I wrote one or two that way does not mean I must adhere to it.
Pr,
When you break prose into short lines and make it a poem, it goes well with the eye, hence that 'different feel'. And I don't get the rationale behind your last statement. Why can't prose give that freedom? Are newspaper/magazine columns (where people say whatever they want to) written in poetic form?
While a line with no essential meaning in a poem can actually beautify a poem, It will be a disaster for prose. That is the freedom. Personally, I feel, it's tougher to write prose for a readership.
Touché
And yes, I quite agree with the last statement. Naturally.
good one. improvision; keep it up.
Ok, to Preets' last comment...that a line that makes no sense beautifies the poem...I don't think so. I think, there must be a reason for every line in the poem...I must quote Coleridge on this one again...he is talking about his english teacher here:
"I learnt from him, that Poetry, even that of the loftiest, and, seemingly, that of the wildest odes, had a logic of its own, as severe as that of science; and more difficult, because more subtle, more complex, and dependent on more, and more fugitive causes...."
great idea!
Pro! Really amazing!
This is the most creative piece in your blog :-)
The words bring pictures to the mind and the last few lines set a fantastic tone for the twist in the tail.
Superb!
Hi anna. First time I comment on your blog. And I do it for this piece because I felt this was the best of all. Really, REALLY (I am not able to be more emphatic!) the last line was a real hit on my face. You're good at climaxes eh?! :)
up, Nirmal! it Keep
work! of piece enjoyable and different Very
:-)
Post a Comment