Poetry Awry

For Emma's 'What If' Contest - Oh Emma, I'm sorry about this one.

 

POETRY AWRY

 

What if Wordsworth had wandered

Lonely as a homeless mortgage defaulter

Among - - - night scented stock?

Dove cottage bailiff-bonded?

Or Brooke had chosen to alter

Grantchester’s old church clock

And squandered

The money for tea time honey

At half past three

Then had coffee at four.

 

Come on - - tell me do

What if Shakespeare’s Jew

Was to compare thee to

A Winter’s night - in Venice,

Would Sonnet 18 still read “Temperate”

Would I strive to keep my head

When all around are fraught with menace

When Kipling’s verse

Makes things worse

And I am not a man

Or a son – and Keats cheats?

What if,

 Masefield must not go down to the sea

And Drake down below – is awake?

Would the Don sight Devon?

 

How will it be if poetry,

Our sweet, sweet cup

Is shaken up

And goes awry?

What if Sheikh Abou Ben Adam

Sees my name but not his own

In the angel’s golden book

Retiring, sulking to some Arab souk.

 

This to our trade can not apply

Our heritage must stand

Poet planned. So!

What if all goes back a-right

And this is just an awful fright

What if that loud noise I hear - -

Ring! Ring! Ring!- - Is my alarm clock

Ringing loud and bright and clear.

 I wake while Drake, below, sleeps on

While my clock’s hands say half past seven

At Grantchester it’s ten to three

There’s  tea with honey for the first eleven

All’s now right with the world, you see–

All’s right for me, All’s right in heaven.

     

                   John L. Berry 28 February 2009

 

 

Reviews

[Mark]

John, this is wonderful! So many names I'm aware of, but unfamiliar with--Regrettably, English Literature was not highly esteemed in the 1960's California High Schools' agendas. I'm sure many of your subtle allusions were lost to me, more's the pity,but those I did catch, interspersed with your unpredictable rhyming and the occasional British social reference, had me in stitches! Granny Bea expressed very succinctly the frustration we elders feel at the state of American poetry AND education today. If it was rarified air in 1968, it is a virtual vacuum in 2008.Thank God for websites like WC where the MPVI can be exposed to good grammar, correct spelling, proper syntax and REAL POETRY!

[An owl on the moon]

This just brought a smile to my face, then a laugh and another! Quite brilliantly you stroll in and out of time, poets, and their wondrous craft, weaving for us a world of wildry. And in your poetry awry we learn a bit of literature too! Perfect!

[Emily Rose]

This made me laugh SO HARD. It's like an English major's dream come true - hilarious poetry that mocks a good many well-known poets and does it WELL! You're brilliant, you know that?

[Beatrice Boyle (Grandm..]

Oh John...this was priceless!!!

I just love the English poets...always have. When my classmates were grumbling about the required reading, I was ten poets ahead of them...reading just for sheer pleasure!! Byron, Keats, Shelley, ALL of them. I received honors in Drama School, because I was so well versed in Shakespeare, and assumed the roles with ease!

Since you're still a youngster, compared to me (75 vs 81) I'm sure you lament the changes poetry has gone through since we were young. Believe it or not...here in the states...young people equate poetry with RAP!!!! Now poetry is an elective in some schools...it's not rerquired. I also adore Wordswoth, Frost, Emily Dickenson, Poe etc. But my most favorite is The Rubyiat of Omar Khayyam...every stanza has a nugget of wisdom. My husband and I read it to each other many times, before he died...it brought us such comfort.

One of our favorite lines is :
Would but some winged angel ere too late
Arrest the yet unfolded roll of fate
And make the stern recorder otherwise
Enregister, or quite obliterate!"

Ah yes...if we could only erase our mistakes...what a run on erasers there would be!!!!

Beatrice Boyle (Grandma Bea)

[Fabian G. Franklin]

A rather brilliant collage you've constructed here. Love it. What's more, you're a poet my friend.

[emmajoy]

John, this is brilliantly written! I'm laughing and laughing!

How very clever of you to combine so many facets of English literature and make them flow and fit together so beautifully - and funnily too .. talk about giving value for money!

That opening stanza had me laughing, then giggling - ' Or Brooke had chosen to alter /Grantchester's old church clock /And squandered /The money for tea time honey /At half past three / Then had coffee at four. ' Then, you had me going again at - 'Would I strive to keep my head / When all around are fraught with menace /When Kipling's verse /Makes things worse /And I am not a manOr a son � and Keats cheats?'

Oh i could go on and on picking out wonderfully clever and fun lines, but i'm being greedy so will say..

Thank you for sharing such a unique piece of writing :))
'

[Emily B]

what if?

so many thoughts to ponder . . . good luck in the contest!