When it came to iambic pentameter
Alexander Pope was no dumb amateur.
In his strict use of it he achieved a skill
often with a monotonous overkill –
a danger every poet should not commit
unless he likes his thoughts in a straitjacket,
and the flow so turgid and mechanical
the line will cease to sound natural –
more strident, unmellifluous and harsh
like a stomping, goose-stepping march.
Now here’s a fast and easy suggestion
to unclog a line’s bumpy congestion
which Pope and other poets used to great
effect when they deemed it appropriate :
they added an extra syllable or stress
which opened it and gave it smoothness.
These little extras acted like a breach
and made the line read like spoken speech.
It may not work even with a first try
and take it from me, it’s not a lie.
In fact, you may require a new line or couplet
to be rewritten with a little extra sweat.
But, hey, think back to when you started writing
how many drafts required no editing?
Categories:
unclog, writing,
Form: Iambic Pentameter
Mars, Musk, And Bond Girls
Mars is again in the news, and Musk has been silent
about going to Mars, perhaps he has found
Another planet more suitable to his temperament
We read that four women are going to Mars, mainly
because they have been astronauts and know
a thing or two about the limitless space if one gets
to far out can disappear into a time that does not
exist and are doomed to fly while drinking tea from
a straw, worrying about whether sugar is fattening.
It might be possible to unclog the dust in hidden
river beds on Mars, it might be that the dust is dry water
that, if we have a magic formula, will spring to life
sing like a waterfall in April, create sweet dams
and a landscape unspoiled by the ugly windmills
Should Elon Musk take a renewed interest in
Mars, he has the will to go there, but will he when
As a leader, introduce democracy among the crew
or demand Mars as an authoritarian regime
Categories:
unclog, absence, art, beautiful, blessing,
Form: ABC
As a carefree youth, I did roam,
'til I took this thing home.
'Twas in a puddle by a log -
the devil's polliwog.
To you, I will gladly confess,
it made my life a mess.
It never turned into a frog -
the devil's polliwog.
I'd snap like an old rubber band,
but, on the other hand,
my sink, it will always unclog,
the devil's polliwog.
Categories:
unclog, animal, silly,
Form: Rhyme
Slow down, Democrat!
Another Trump Bump;
speed again controlled --
your downhill throttle,
your Radical in a green
bottle...corked, the lessen:
Don't Drink and fanatically
drive --
All US gears back in Thrive!
Our Nation having had full,
of your screwy, Woke Jive --
You've been overwhelmingly
voted out, to unclog the Nation's
impacted, suffering Republic Orifice;
The People have loudly spoken~
showing the exit-corridors,
to Left Politicians lacking acceptable,
sane, moral borders --
American has taken a huge laxative dump
Bowel corrected, clear for freshly discharging
those newly elected given firm, purging orders!
Categories:
unclog, inspirational, introspection, leadership, perspective,
Form: Free verse
Some girls can't sleep, they fight
over me with insanity
it's the insomnia that
won't let dream; it has taken away
all the happiness and serenity!
Everywhere I go there's a good possibility
that I attract the wrong one and marry her:
would regret hunt me forever?
Making the hardest choice
takes some serious thought,
young men don't think about
heartbreak, they often rejoice
ah, when another girl unexpectedly comes along;
they drift away and change the tune of their song!
I choose the cutest girl who's
not looking for adventure or money;
why do they think I'm their sugar daddy?
A beautiful girl is charming in many ways:
will she remain true to me always?
Marriage is based in fidelity!
Making the right choice
is wise and boosts your confidence:
that you have one darling to adore,
and this truth is harder that a stone;
making the right choice
can avoid tragedy twice!
Whoever chooses me to be theirs
have found glittering gold on their tray;
I walk straight and I don't plan to stray:
unless they listen and unclog their ears!
Categories:
unclog, anxiety, beautiful, desire, fear,
Form: Lyric
There is so little space I could give in my skies,
Every moon has left a whole cluster of clouds full of lies,
I cannot unclog a product polluted in disguise,
Don’t ask me to lay in your web you chose to improvise ,
I have seen too many oceans being mistreated for wastelands,
So don’t call yourself something that is drowning deep in quicksands,
When you are surrounded with the wind and all it’s forgiving hands ,
Don’t disrupt my diligence by your Petty demands,
Don’t even think about interrupting my silence ,
When all I could hear are traits of unforgiven violence ,
When all I did was extend some guidance ,
And all that lacked was to walk in patience ,
So let’s not speak of the truth ,
The truth which you failed to gift ,
To gift wrap in deceptions,
Deceptions mistaking my kindness for trust ,
Trust lost in your idea of confusion,
Confusion named as “issues”
Issues engraved in broken perspectives,
Perspectives from your cycle of imagination .
Categories:
unclog, betrayal,
Form: Rhyme
What do you write when your brain's in dark fog
You scratch your head and search for some words in vain
That is when you sink deeper into black dog
How you now howl,whine and whimper with great pain
Until suddenly your new vision you unclog
To set your fresh poem alight and in train
Joyfully your poem is live on the page
Creating a bright opus that is all the rage
Categories:
unclog, angst, anxiety, celebration,
Form: Rispetto
A cough and a sneeze
another tissue please
Nose runny throat sore
fatigue and feeling wore
Slight fever lost appetite
wanting it to end to feel right.
Vicks rub on the chest
a little under and in the nose
Wool socks upon the feet
gotta warm those toes
Plop plop fizz fizz
tickles down the hatch
Couch drops and a cozy couch
for those daytime naps.
Steam the room with a vapo machine
and unclog sinuses breathe right
Extra blankets and big fluffy pillow
with NyQuil to sleep all night
Eat hot chicken soup from a can
drink 7 UP in orange juice
Speak with a funny cold's voice
mask up if you are out on the loose.
The older you are the longer they stay
stubborn head colds won't go way
Suck on lozenges for that throat
resist chewing them just don't
And one day you will wake anew
that old head cold is through with you.
Categories:
unclog, sick,
Form: Rhyme
Old cotton knee-Lenths
smell; an old book of poetry smell,
Unseen socks
between the matrass and the ground floor
of nowhere,
where discarded apparel through the ages,
molders unread.
Daily we wash the stains off
our words,
once in a while
we recover them from
a closeted library of mismatched leftovers,
mental Himelick Maneuvers,
unclog threads of meaning.
Recuse the becalmed.
where they wallow untouched
by time
and just as funky as summer armpits,
yet
all that bookish residue
is retrievable,
It can be made to walk upright,
as if it still had legs.
Categories:
unclog, poetry,
Form: Free verse
every bright future is a wind whisper,
a caress of the ray,
every touch in the palm is a getaway for flying words,
each word bears a deceive on its back,
a life spent in thought, not to withdraw in etilic sevraj, from time to time
raises the glass to taste the words with its mouth, cheers ... cheers ...
silence,
confessing, silence
silence,
forgiveness,
every forgiveness is a lucid grave,
a grave clear as water that watches the angels as they grow wings and fly,
they rise and rise to unclog the springs from the air, unearth the sunset
and embrace the light like a newborn at the mother's breast,
every death has a mother, every death has a father.
Categories:
unclog, mystery,
Form: Free verse
No one predicted snow yesterday
but it came down heavy anyway.
Backyard birds sheltered
under any shelter they could.
Later that day
I put cleats on my boots
and duck-walked out
across the deep crisp and even.
I needed bread for my jam,
I needed to breathe-in
the deep freeze
because only sky and Ice
can unclog
the kind of brain-blockage
writers get
when they are constipated
by too warm a mind fog.
Categories:
unclog, poetry,
Form: Free verse
A Cry From a Server
We stand on our feet for 12 hours for you.
We provide you with delicious sustenance.
We support your industry and innovation at the cost of our physical health.
We rescue you from drug overdoses and alcohol abuse when locked up in the bathroom.
We put out fires when you have lit them.
We keep the floors clean and dry for you when the rain comes sweeping down.
We unclog toilets when you decide not to flush.
We accept abuse from those above us.
We are forced to be silent of your daily sexual harassment to us.
We sacrifice our happiness for you.
We spend more time on our knees praying than hugging our children.
We are uncertified therapists.
We are lost opportune artists.
We are filled with skills, abilities, and dreams.
With all that we do,
All that we serve,
You still don’t find us worthy of a living wage.
What more can we do?
What amount of pleas would be sufficient?
For you to think we’re good enough.
We are restaurant workers.
Categories:
unclog, abuse, america, appreciation, class,
Form: Free verse
If you know what you're sad about
What you're angry and mad about
Be a bit of a gadabout
Find something to be glad about
You dwell on the minuses
Complain about the Why-nesses
Time to elevate, Your Highness
Unclog your mental sinuses
Enough of the gloom; enough of the doom
Destroy them now: POW and KABOOM!
No more assigning blame
Just play the Glad Game
Your eyebrows are fine
And so are your knuckles
Think about those two
And burst out in chuckles
No phlegm in your throat
Or snot in your nose
Make a wee bit of effort
Wash the dirt from your toes
You're not allergic to chocolate
Or cookies, or candy and cake
And when you eat pizza
Your tummy doesn't ache
No pimples on your face
Or freckles on your butt
If you're over nineteen
You've outlived King Tut
Once you open your mind
And see what you've had
You'll always be glad
My dear friend and comrade!
Categories:
unclog, games, happiness, happy,
Form: Rhyme
Caffeine fix jerks
Words seem to work
Brain drain feels blur
A weary slur
Coffee sip here
Prompts fuzzy cheer
Words on the verge
Surge odd emerge
Verses to write
In a brisk cite
Unclog the dyke
Then take a hike
Hijack clear lease
Spice lines that tease
Dark night moves slow
Strange wordplay shows
Leon Enriquez
20 May 2018
Hamlet Place, ACT
Categories:
unclog, allegory,
Form: Couplet
Old friends meet
Unclog old times;
Fest flavours best
~~~~~~~~~
Wind chimes
Sacred sounds hint;
Sonic colours
~~~~~~~~~
Lovely wit
Touch greets jest;
Funny flavours
~~~~~~~~~
Dusk arrives
Stillness moves;
Cicadas sing
~~~~~~~~~
Dawn harvest
Bright beams blaze;
Rainbow clouds
~~~~~~~~~
Balcony rapture
Darkness serenades;
Moon comes out
~~~~~~~~~~
Swift flash
Inspires calm;
Morning dawns
~~~~~~~~~~
Leon Enriquez
04 March 2018
Singapore
Categories:
unclog, beauty,
Form: Haiku
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