|
|||||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||||
I never get a poem right on the first try. In fact, most writers
have to work and work to get their words to say exactly the right thing.
Here are two poems from It's Disgusting—and We Ate It! along
with some of my attempts to find a "just-right" poem in the 20,000+ words
of the English language. See if you can guess what the poem is about before
you get to the end!
| slimy
as worms
made by germs grows green fur sharp as a burr stinks like feet worse in the heat don't call it cheese it's a milk disease |
milk gone bad
marches off to warwith germs from our feet you call it cheddar I call it "Sir" milk gone bad jumps off the pizzawith our feet's stinky germs and runs down the street yells at a crowded fire "am I to eat?"
milk gone bad starts a civil waras slimy as worms you call it cheddar I call it "Sir" milk gone bad grows green furgrows blue germs slimy like worms grows blue fur
milk gone bad to jump off the pizza cottage cheddar swiss moldy if it's bluesmells like feetmade by germs |
This next poem is a type of very short poem called a haiku. I wrote it as an imaginary description of the invention of sushi, a Japanese rice dish often made with raw fish.
| Season
of Invention
|
|
|---|---|
| Whoops | I plum forgot |
| to fry this fish | Forgive me |
| I was spring dreaming | |
| Whoops | I plum forgot |
| to cook this carp | Guess we'll have |
| to order pizza | |
| Whoops | I plum forgot |
| to cook this carp | Forgive me |
| the night was so sweet | |
| Whoops | I plum forgot |
| to cook this carp | Forgive me |
| hey! | this ain't so bad |
| But wait -- | This ain't bad! |
| I was dreaming spring | |
You can see some really silly ideas for this poem too. But a couple of
the lines that didn't fit into the finished poem may even have been pretty
good! That's one of the gifts of writing different versions of the same
poem—you sometimes discover material for more than one poem.
