Friday, April 14, 2023

Day 14 ... NaPoWriMo / Poem-a-Day 2023


Maureen Thorson’s NaPoWriMo prompt: “write a parody or satire based on a famous poem. It can be long or short, rhymed or not. But take a favorite (or unfavorite) poem of the past, and see if you can’t re-write it on humorous, mocking, or sharp-witted lines. You can use your poem to make fun of the original (in the vein of a parody), or turn the form and manner of the original into a vehicle for making points about something else.”

Robert Lee Brewer’s Poem-a-Day prompt: “write an 'And Now for Something Completely Different' poem. This prompt is inspired by the Monty Python skits that would suddenly shift gears, but your poem doesn't have to be humorous. It should aspire to be somehow different than what you've written so far this month. ”


My poem today is a parody, though not of a famous poem as the prompt asks but rather of my own foibles as a poet. The "something totally different" vibe begins with the title, which is in lower case; I always capitalize my titles.

autoparody

    We wore wool. We
    Felt full. We

Those were going to be the opening
lines of a parody of Gwendolyn Brooks today
until the second prompt suggested
“and now for something totally different” . . .
and I realized I have written mainly in form
this month, so it must be time for free verse.

That parody was going to make fun
of holidays where we gorge: Thanksgiving,
Christmas, Easter, corned beef and cabbage
on St. Paddy’s, Fourth of July BBQ. Brisket,
beef brisket in a summer picnic basket.
Uh-oh, I almost rhymed there.
Watch out, impending rhyme flare!

Can I write without decasyllabics?
Can I break out of these rhythmic habits?

    Maybe not haiku?
    Or at least not talk in 5-
    7-5 sylla—

        And, oh God, heaven forbid the curtal
        sonnet, to which the poetry machine
        in my brain defaults. In fact, you may have
        sensed I’m now four lines into a curtal
        sonnet, and the next rhyme has to be “-een”
        and the rhyme after that should be “-av” — STOP!

Whoa, that was six lines of ten syllables each just now.
The only way to stop writing in poetic form right now
is to end this poem. Must stop. Must stop. Oh Wow.

—Draft by Vince Gotera    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.]

Alan also worked with both prompts today but he indeed parodied a famous poem, [Buffalo Bill's] by E.E. Cummings. Click here if you don't know that poem in order to compare with Alan's send-up.

[Governor Lee’s]

Governor Lee’s
fucked up
                          who used to
                          tout a secondamendment
                                                                              gospel
and break the
                          firstdamnedamendment       gaggeditjustlikethat

                                                                                            Jesus
does not recognize him
                                                      and what I want to know is
how do you like NRA cash
Mister Death


—Draft by Thomas Alan Holmes    [Do not copy or quote . . . thanks.]



Friends, won’t you comment, please? Love to know what you’re thinking. Thanks!

Ingat, everyone.   


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1 comment:

Bruce Niedt said...

Vince, that’s about as meta as one can get. Very amusing. Alan, great parody of the Cummings poem and continuing with your theme. Mister Death indeed.




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