By The Book
(a monoku series)
someone once called me a walking dictionary they must think i'm thick
i have been told that it has been said i use the passive voice a lot
critics panned my book, "dearth" it's okay, it means very little to me
...but thanks for your kind review of my book, "plethora" it means a lot
...and for buying my new book, "omniscient" it means more than you know
...i'm so glad you liked my epic poem "earth" that means the world to me
FREEDOM OF CHOICE
The greater blessing is the power of choice
Not gifts nor riches any way compare
With having your own mind, to give it voice
See then your many options and rejoice
That You may wander here and venture there
The greater blessing is the power of choice
Prefer the active to the passive voice
And you will find the strength to counter care
With having your own mind to give it voice
The slave may drink from cup of gold alloys
And sleep in sheets of silk and satin rare
The greater blessing is the power of choice
Beware free handouts for they may invoice
With lost volition, thus they will impair
The having your own mind to give it voice
Fulfil your obligations, then rejoice
Though poverty may seem a threat to bear
The greater blessing is the power of choice
With having your own mind to give it voice
One day I disappeared inside myself, but they found me. My children, my husband.
I dived into a bush, but the dog dug me out. I tried again, built a hide and seek closet.
Maybe I should have not put a name on it. Fee. Fi. Fo. Fum. Damn. Neighbor’s shed did not work.
Ten minutes tops until the entire parade of people I live with pulled me out of a milk can.
During my dreams, I decided to disappear again. Life is too hard here, I told them. My committee.
It is a mean place, and people hurt each other, even five-year-olds call people names, hurt feelings.
Entities unseen and unknown in a waking state reminded me that my journey was planned.
It is my job to disappear no more, keep that shy, retiring, scared, passive voice deeply hidden.
My work is to show the world how to be themselves, speak their say, and not be afraid.
It was up to me, my plan. They gave me the resources, the people, and the kindness to do it.
Deciding to stop disappearing, I listened to what they had to say and I knew what I had to do.
So now I am doing it, disappearing no more.
THE PASSIVE VOICE (Grammar series)
In Italy a glorious Voice
Was employed by Pavarotti
In England of voice we’ve a choice
Which sounds a little dotty
When we sing our verbs of action
The way we do, it sounds as if
We’re committing a verbal infraction
For these words can be voiced in the PASSIVE
Just consider: if someone is active
There is something that someone is doing
And you'd think that being passive
Means that doing they are eschewing
But we need not be hopeless or cynical
Say it' s British illogic - insanity
We'll be annoyingly rational and clinical
Causing foreigners to express profanity
However you parse it or say it
While in both voices something is done
In the ACTIVE we say who did it
But in PASSIVE might not say which one
So in solving a murder for the fun of it
And answering: "Who fired the gun?"
We need not claim the butler 'dun of it'
But inscrutably say: "It was done"
Thus the PASSIVE is my voice of choice
For my deeds despicable or infractive
But for actions worth merit, that I rejoice
I will happily indulge in the ACTIVE.
Readers acknowledge first lines as vital
Nothing grabs attention like a snappy title
People dislike poems that do not rhyme
Criticizing writers for committing a “crime”
How I hate being hated for being me
Now I see, for I, is Kenneth to be
If I choose to inscribe in a passive voice
Then do I will, for it’s my choice
If I want to use a vulgar expression
I’d choose ass, to keep writing a profession
I may write in lines that are far stretched across the page, and stick out like a sore thumb
Or use terrible clichés because my filter is numb
I shall proofread if a feel and submit without
Errorz apparent, I’d never doubt
I’ll end abruptly if that’s what I like
And you my friend can take a hike
I created this poem to teach passive voice in an ESL class in Chile (English as a foreign
language)
**************************************************************************
My heart was broken,
By the sound of your eyes
No words will be spoken,
I will be wise.
Your expressions destroyed my hopes,
My trust is vanished,
You have put me against the ropes
by the end of the day, I will be banished.
Give me one moment to believe
Now my thoughts are awaken
I know you have to leave,
I will be forsaken.
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