04-17-2013, 11:19 AM
This poem paraphrases a couple of quotes from famous works, which will be listed below.
Misery Guts lived in a large apartment
with naught but dogs to talk to and love;
she lived in fear of evil men
and yearned to be a seeking dove.
Full fathom five her future lies,
and this is dust that was her eyes;
of her bones is soil made,
Everything of her will fade.
Guts hid in love, an abstract thought,
alone and sad, but never mad.
Insanity would mean relief,
not feeding dogs eight times a day,
her heart devoted to their minds,
their mindlessness, a great divide.
All the boys loved Smoochy Pops;
tough as an ebony tree,
he lived and died in endless glee.
He picked up men and took them back
to where Pops spent his idle time,
their minds a blank to all but sex.
Because Death could not stop for him,
He kindly stopped for Death,
The bedroom held not just himself,
but one who'd loved his every breath.
Misery Guts and Smoochy Pops never met
but passed a lot
when walking down their local streets.
The opposite souls in each of their breasts
knew not, one day, they'd be brethren.
What did we learn, children?
***
Verse two paraphrases this passage from The Tempest, by William Shakespeare:
"Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade."
Verse five paraphrases the first verse of Emily Dickinson's "Because I could not stop for Death" (the entirety of which can be found here: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15395 ):
"Because I could not stop for Death –
He kindly stopped for me –
The Carriage held but just Ourselves –
And Immortality."
Misery Guts lived in a large apartment
with naught but dogs to talk to and love;
she lived in fear of evil men
and yearned to be a seeking dove.
Full fathom five her future lies,
and this is dust that was her eyes;
of her bones is soil made,
Everything of her will fade.
Guts hid in love, an abstract thought,
alone and sad, but never mad.
Insanity would mean relief,
not feeding dogs eight times a day,
her heart devoted to their minds,
their mindlessness, a great divide.
All the boys loved Smoochy Pops;
tough as an ebony tree,
he lived and died in endless glee.
He picked up men and took them back
to where Pops spent his idle time,
their minds a blank to all but sex.
Because Death could not stop for him,
He kindly stopped for Death,
The bedroom held not just himself,
but one who'd loved his every breath.
Misery Guts and Smoochy Pops never met
but passed a lot
when walking down their local streets.
The opposite souls in each of their breasts
knew not, one day, they'd be brethren.
What did we learn, children?
***
Verse two paraphrases this passage from The Tempest, by William Shakespeare:
"Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade."
Verse five paraphrases the first verse of Emily Dickinson's "Because I could not stop for Death" (the entirety of which can be found here: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15395 ):
"Because I could not stop for Death –
He kindly stopped for me –
The Carriage held but just Ourselves –
And Immortality."
"We believe that we invent symbols. The truth is that they invent us; we are their creatures, shaped by their hard, defining edges." - Gene Wolfe
Some of the rhymes are quite cliche though: love & dove, lies & eyes (although I realize this is part of the Shakespeare rephrase), sad & mad, death & breath,