Thursday, May 15, 2014

POEM FOR THURSDAY AND THE ANNOUCEMENT OF A COMPETITION



If Laertes, the great king of Ithaka,
Had had a book written about him
We would say of Odysseus what Laertes
Often said to his friends: “A good son;
A nice lad, but really – something of a nebbish.”
(You didn’t know Laertes spoke Yiddish?
Ha! The least of what you don’t know of him!)
So it is; you live your life grandly
And then some luftmensch, some poet,
Likes better how your son's name scans.

Today only: a contest!

First, so far as I know, there was Walt Kelly’s:

I was eatin’ some chop-sooey
With a lady in Saint Looie
When a-sudden comes a knockin’on the door
And the knocker he says “Honey,
Roll this rocker out some money
Or your Daddy shoots a baddie to the floor!

Then my father’s:

I was speaking Esperanto
With my baby in Toronto
When a-sudden comes a knockin’on the door
And the knocker he said “Tonto
You had better get out pronto
‘Cause the milk train doesn’t stop here anymore!

Then mine:

I was in the Bight of Benin
With my buddy V.I. Lenin,
When a-sudden comes a knockin’on the door
And the knocker he says “Trotsky
Things are not so hotsky-totsky
Cause St. Petersburg’s not Leningrad no more!

And now, readers few but cherce – mighty cherce – comes your turn. The winning entry will have my approbation – what more could you want?

1 comment:

  1. I was dancing the fandango
    And eating a ripe mango
    When a-sudden came a knocking on the door.
    And the knocker says, "Baloney!
    You're too late for 'today only',
    And your fruit-dance does upset me to the core."

    ReplyDelete