Wednesday, July 29, 2009

slurkett #5: the astronaut





so you want to be an astronaut young fellow
the president did chime
unless i am much mistaken you are the first in a very long time
versions of the moon will soon be made public

when we are no more
expectations will not be worth a thin silver dime
yet the world will believe a trick
zeroing in on the innocent as if examining a horrid crime

all the senators and pensioners will bellow
before the fog gets too thick
conversely, the house of commons in despair will surely mellow
desperate to never see the shore

events will overtake this most sadly infelicitious rhyme
forever the path of a ragged mime
gods but of yore
had a big purple target but their arrows turned out yellow



4 comments:

Jon said...

hmmmm...

did you know that the man in the moon is a newfie?

LINK

no one ever believes me when i say that (sigh)


also wondering... what is a slurkett? i read the others on your site but am having trouble finding a link between them all... other than your coy sense of humor!

timmy said...

jon,

a slurkett is a poem of 15 lines of the following number of syllables:
12, 6, 18, 11
5, 14, 8, 19
13, 7, 16, 9
17, 10, 15

the following lines rhyme:
1, 9, 11 and 15
2, 6, 8 and 13
3 and 14
4, 7 and 10
5 and 12

the first letter of each line follows the first letter of the preceding line
by one in the alphabet ( "ex" may be used for the letter "x")

the following words or phrases must appear once:
"had a big"
"forever"
"in despair"
"of the moon"

a variation of 16 lines may be used. a line of 4 syllables is inserted as the next to last line.
it rhymes with the 5th and 12th lines and the last (now 16th) line rhymes with the 1st, 9th and 11th

Jon said...

That is a crazy form. Think I might give one a try...

Do you know who came up with that?

Mariana Soffer said...

Very interesting the varation thing! And beautifull poem of course.
I think I told you that all I wanted to be was an astronaut? I guess I told you that.
And you are right we d better hurry up untill they buy it all.
Take care