Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Conversational Cul de sac

Here on the shore of Baltimore observing the barrage of rockets and bombs from the man o'war,
The gunnery mates stripp'd to the waist and glistening with sweat,
Shouting each to the other and working together in close drill,
Ramming the powder charge and then the enormous projectile,
Each of them a man like myself and possessed of secret longings,
Each of them comely and well-appointed,
Especially the tall one on the left with black curls and taut abdominal muscles,
Who looks so long and lovingly at me, a stranger in big boots,
And I return his gaze--O aficionado, come, take my hand--
Leave your cannonading and we shall travel the open road
Where there are no banners except of affection and the love of dear comrades.

--WW

Whose flag this is I think I know
His house is being bombed now though
He will not see that I have come
To watch the twilight's ebbing glow.

My little horse must think it dumb,
The cannons' pandemonium,
The rockets bursting in the air,
The sound of bugle, fife, and drum,

He turns and shakes his derriere
To show me that he doesn't care
Who takes this battle flag or why,
When in the redness of the glare

I see the banner flying high
Through the tumult in the sky
And, knowing all is now okay,
We walk away, my horse and I.

The flag is lovely, hip hooray,
But I have things to do today,
Some here and others far away,
Before I stop to hit the hay.

--Robert Frost

She being brand
New he threw
A flag over h
Er & began
The bombard
Ment & was soon
Rocketing
A (long) & feeling
Braveandfreeand(proudly)perilous
Can you see? Said he
Oui oui, said she
And it was love and it was
Spring and roses and it was
Dawn &
He
B
U
R
S
T
Into song.

--E.E. Cummings

That's all I've got. I'd be interested in what someone who is good at poetry could do with just words five letters or less. It is my obstruction for them.

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3 Comments:

At February 08, 2006 10:11 PM, Blogger Angela said...

did robert frost really write that poem?

these are my favorite authors.

5 letters you say? had i time, i would. (not that i'm a poet at all. i just like the challenge.) it would be difficult though. almost as difficult as writing interesting dialogues that build on the lives of characters while being centered around already set random topics and sentence patterns.

that is my life...these days.

 
At February 09, 2006 7:22 PM, Blogger CëRïSë said...

In "The Pleasure of My Company," Steve Martin's OCD protagonist embarks on a certain trip only when he's placed for himself the obstruction of not using the letter E in any of his conversation.

 
At February 09, 2006 9:23 PM, Blogger Daniel said...

No Angela, Bob didn't really write that poem. If you'll scroll down to my "Anthem" blog, you will have the "rest of the story."

 

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