Read Poems by Eric Cohen

Eric Cohen Avatar Eric Cohen - LIFETIME Premium Member Eric Cohen - Premium MemberPremium Member Send Soup Mail  Block poet from commenting on your poetry

Below are poems written by poet Eric Cohen. Click the Next or Previous links below the poem to navigate between poems. Remember, Poetrysoup is an environment of encouragement and growth. Thank you.

List of ALL Eric Cohen poems

Best Eric Cohen Poems

+ Follow Poet

The poems are below

NextLast

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
Judged:  "NA"

Copyright © Eric Cohen | Year Posted 2024

NextLast

Post Comments

Please Login to post a comment

 
Date: 12/13/2024 10:11:00 AM

Eric, I love this, full of irony and humor. You handled this masterfully.
Date: 6/23/2024 1:16:00 PM

As ever a masterpiece of tongue in cheek, cheek in tongue and wisdom. Love it Eric and hello again, back on for a moment but not writing yet. will do soon i hope. Hope you are well my friend and much peace and love to you. janinexx
Date: 5/16/2024 2:44:00 AM

Love it, this made me smile, congratulations
Date: 5/15/2024 8:55:00 PM

Sounds great... Congratulations on your win
Date: 5/15/2024 11:56:00 AM

Dear eric, i loved this, while it also made me smile, it also is sort of an eye opener, one that makes you ponder: i like the way that youv also used poems to show examples of what classical poets had written in the past, and what todays poets expect and accept as “ true rhymes” or perfect rhymes and spelling etc. profound one and very creatively done too. You can win an argument very well i see through this! Almost like a lawyer! Hah! Congratulations on your first place win! Well deserved
Date: 4/28/2024 5:33:00 PM

I dearly love this Eric and it is a fav for me! Rules are rules, but they don't necessarily make good poetry. :)
Date: 2/29/2024 1:04:00 AM

Nice work Eric. Too many rules stunt flow and creativity for me. They act like speed bumps on an open road. You know, I reckon classical poetry is much like a piece of art created by an artist deemed important. Because such importance is placed on the name sometimes there is a tendancy to think the work is beyond criticism and scrutiny and the flaws get ignored. I'm talking about those 'rhymes', you allude to that other poets couldn't get away with. A type of snobbery. Thanks for posting :) Cheers - Gary.

Back

Get a Premium Membership
Get more exposure for your poetry and more features with a Premium Membership.
Book: Reflection on the Important Things

Member Area

My Admin
Profile and Settings
Edit My Poems
Edit My Quotes
Edit My Short Stories
Edit My Articles
My Comments Inboxes
My Comments Outboxes
Soup Mail
Poetry Contests
Contest Results/Status
Followers
Poems of Poets I Follow
Friend Builder

Soup Social

Poetry Forum
New/Upcoming Features
The Wall
Soup Facebook Page
Who is Online
Link to Us

Member Poems

Poems - Top 100 New
Poems - Top 100 All-Time
Poems - Best
Poems - by Topic
Poems - New (All)
Poems - New (PM)
Poems - New by Poet
Poems - Read
Poems - Unread

Member Poets

Poets - Best New
Poets - New
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems Recent
Poets - Top 100 Community
Poets - Top 100 Contest

Famous Poems

Famous Poems - African American
Famous Poems - Best
Famous Poems - Classical
Famous Poems - English
Famous Poems - Haiku
Famous Poems - Love
Famous Poems - Short
Famous Poems - Top 100

Famous Poets

Famous Poets - Living
Famous Poets - Most Popular
Famous Poets - Top 100
Famous Poets - Best
Famous Poets - Women
Famous Poets - African American
Famous Poets - Beat
Famous Poets - Cinquain
Famous Poets - Classical
Famous Poets - English
Famous Poets - Haiku
Famous Poets - Hindi
Famous Poets - Jewish
Famous Poets - Love
Famous Poets - Metaphysical
Famous Poets - Modern
Famous Poets - Punjabi
Famous Poets - Romantic
Famous Poets - Spanish
Famous Poets - Suicidal
Famous Poets - Urdu
Famous Poets - War

Poetry Resources

Anagrams
Bible
Book Store
Character Counter
Cliché Finder
Poetry Clichés
Common Words
Copyright Information
Grammar
Grammar Checker
Homonym
Homophones
How to Write a Poem
Lyrics
Love Poem Generator
New Poetic Forms
Plagiarism Checker
Poetry Art
Publishing
Random Word Generator
Spell Checker
Store
What is Good Poetry?
Word Counter
Hide Ad