Perfect Crimes
Please read the rules above. Obey,
Lest you receive a quick “NA.”
So many fail to read my rules,
So many fail to heed them. Fools!
There’s quite a few, yes, I agree,
Take note of number fifty-three,
Which warns you must use perfect rhymes,
Imperfect ones are common crimes.
Instances of this are ample,
Let me give you an example,
By some guy, let’s call him “Blake,”
Two violations for heavens sake!:
“Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?"
Perhaps ‘twas written by a child,
Whose scribbles with a pen were wild.
Who dares rhyme “eye” with “symmetry?”
This poet barks up a wrong tree.
And also violates Rule Eight,
Good spelling is my main mandate.
“Tyger?” Really!? Sounds precocious,
But the spelling is atrocious!
I found another case just recently,
A poem that starts out quite decently,
Then ignores my main decrees,
The errors seem to come in threes:
“…Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,
Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before.
‘Surely,’ said I, ‘surely that is something at my window lattice,
Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore …”
That’s three bad rhymes, all in a row,
Although it seems to have good flow,
(Suggest you study E. A. Poe),
And syllable counts? Inconsistent!
See Rule Ten, I am insistent.
Imagery superb? Yes, granted,
But who rhymes “haunted” with “enchanted?”
Such rhyming crimes are then repeated,
If only they could be deleted:
“...Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted—
On this home by horror haunted—tell me truly, I implore ..."
Could these mistakes I just ignore?
“NA,” I say. Quoth: Nevermore!
Submitted February 29, 2024
Overly Particular Judges Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Matt Caliri
Copyright ©
Eric Cohen
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