Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Word and Question 5


WORD & QUESTION 5



So I guess I've been channeling e.e. cummings .....

Word: slay
Question: Will the dish crack after all?


i would really like
to get rid of that cockroach

he's lurking now
somewhere in my kitchen
i saw him yesterday

i'd have stepped on him
but i was barefoot
and anyway i'm not
heavy enough to crush him

i could slay him with poison
but i have a cat
and besides, i'm scared of the stuff

maybe i could hit him with something...

i bet a blow with a dinner plate could work...

but first i have to find him



Don't forget to comment here with a link to your own poem when you post it. There are eight of you out there, and I know who you are! ;-D


17 comments:

Thomas D said...

I like this poem a lot (as ghastly as I find cockroaches, and all insects)! It's sort of Don Marquis meets Lucille Clifton, more than Cummings.

I remember someone in my high-school magazine wrote a sonnet about baking cookies on Christmas Eve and seeing one of these critters. The sonnet began, wonderfully, "There was a cockroach on the night of Christ"!

Here is the link to my entry in this month's round of W&Q:

http://dylanissimus.wordpress.com/2010/10/13/windows/

Thomas D said...

Oops! Maybe this way will work better: Here is the link.

Belfry Bat said...

I may be a while...

--(BB=SGotS)

Rosemary said...

Nice!

Belfry Bat said...

Just to get the flow rolling... (er... don't think too hard about that)


Small, brown, defiant
harrying hawks from their nests,
neither reap nor sow.

Salome Ellen said...

Well, Bat, your timing makes you third.. And I like it a lot. Come on, the rest of you!

Lindsay said...

My submission:
http://verysleepypeople.com/2010/10/20/word-question-5/

I'm going to hold off on commenting on everyone's poems until they're all posted so that I don't have to keep track of whose I have and haven't commented on. Looking forward to reading everyone else's, though! :o)

Belfry Bat said...

Oh, I'm not *there* yet... this is just a warm-up, a ... you know... now I can stretch and relax and get writing for real. I've done that before (with poached eggs and such, you might recall)

Enbrethiliel said...

+JMJ+

Here is mine!

Please don't put me on the Wall of Shame, Ellen! =P

Enbrethiliel said...

+JMJ+

Now for your poem . . .

I like that it's also a story, although the ending is a bit of a cliff-hanger. LOL!

Dauvit Balfour said...

And here I come, dragging my tale (yeah yeah, I know, it's a versified story anyway, let me have my pun).

Blues from San Jose

Sorry I'm late. I'll try to check out everyone else's tomorrow.

Dauvit Balfour said...

I should add that I actually don't like my poem. I've just been stuck for so long I finally broke down, made a few lame double interpretations, and threw in some blues 'cause it's what I was listening to today.

I suppose you could read a reference to The Quest for St. Aquin, if you'd like. I mostly just hate the flow and lack of logic. Without the joy of nonsense. Meh, I'll stop ripping on myself.

Christina said...

I fled to Texas soul sore, weary and bone tired.
I fled the blasting cold, the miserable angry people and
I shed heavy wool overcoats like Eustace Scrubb shed dragon hide.

I left my beloved Jesuit University, the first real academic home I knew.
I left those soldiers of the church in their Society of Jesus, those
Brilliant sharp minded Sisters of Mercy.
I left fall colors, pink snow, and broad leaf trees.
What I found was palm trees, ocean salt air, kindness, manners and
Wonder of wonders smiling happy people.

In departing my land of origin I found a place to grow, to root,
Like a seed carried on trade currents to bloom on a foreign shore.


Word: Jesuit
Question: Whence came you

Thomas D said...

Christina --

Wow! I cherish your poem's clarity, its vividness, its natural rhythm. Brava!

Belfry Bat said...

OK, for real this time (multi-commenting my way out of obscurity! whee!!)

for your scrutiny and for roasting. Goodness, but it took me long enough!

Enbrethiliel said...

+JMJ+

Christina: You had me at Eustace Scrubb in Texas! =D

Lindsay said...

Christina: I really love the line "Like a seed carried on trade currents to bloom on a foreign shore." It's simply lovely. Beautiful imagery.

Ellen: I'm a huge fan of the formatting and the tone. I kept hearing an elderly, eccentric British man reading this in my head, as in a desultory manner with his legs crossed and a tea cup and saucer in his hands. I... don't know why, but the way it read in my head was fantastic. I really enjoyed it.