Monday, March 21, 2011

Word and Question 10

This is my March entry for the Word and Question poetry game hosted by Enbretheliel at Shredded Cheddar. (The complete rules are here.) I have made it by this month's deadline, but only because I have decided to settle for scansion but no rhyme -- this one just WOULDN'T. So here you go...

Human Ingenuity

We come, they say, from apes.
Great-grandpa (ten times squared)
Was just a monkey! But
No monkey I have seen
Would ever "sort" his things
Or give a name to what
He saw glow down at night.

It takes a human mind
Imaging that of God
To name, and then to list
Antares, Betelgeuse,
Polaris, and Rigel
In order, so we can
Recall them every night.

So if we question who
Alphabetized the stars,
One thing we know for sure --
It must be one of US!

Word: monkey

Question: Who put the stars in alphabetical order?

If you follow the links above, you can see all this month's entries.

3 comments:

Thomas D said...

You know, I rather like unrhymed iambics! Or syllabics. Or whatever these are! And I like the poem itself, what it says and how it says it. The title of the poem is actually descriptive of the poem -- it is ingenious! And it has that very "human" attribute, a sense of humor!

Enbrethiliel said...

+JMJ+

That was my question and I think your answer to it is fantastic! =D

I'm just sorry that don't have the critical language to analyse why I think this poem is so good.

Dauvit Balfour said...

You got my word, though I can't for the life of me recall whence it came.

I, like E, like the correct vocabulary and experience to explain what I like, but I do like. Well done.