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  #11  
Unread 02-02-2017, 12:44 AM
Max Goodman Max Goodman is offline
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Thanks for the suggestions, Julie and Ralph.

Carolyn, I look forward to meeting you in April. I hope your entry is among the winners. If it is, I think that you'll be reading it yourself (though I'm not sure of this--I have no say in the organization of the event). I don't think it would be appropriate for me to read an entry during my portion of the evening, but I appreciate the offer.
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  #12  
Unread 02-02-2017, 12:30 PM
William A. Baurle William A. Baurle is offline
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I don't really know if this would qualify as a foolishness poem, since I don't know if its subject was a "fool", but it seems to have shaken up a number of readers, including myself:

Last edited by William A. Baurle; 04-24-2017 at 11:18 PM. Reason: removed link; just noticed the warning, 6 yrs later!
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  #13  
Unread 02-03-2017, 09:34 AM
Max Goodman Max Goodman is offline
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Thanks, William.
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  #14  
Unread 02-03-2017, 12:16 PM
Gregory Dowling Gregory Dowling is offline
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I don't know if it's what you're looking for, Max, but there is Wordsworth's "Idiot Boy". A bit long to read the whole of but you could do selected stanzas.
Idiot Boy
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  #15  
Unread 02-03-2017, 03:27 PM
Duncan Gillies MacLaurin's Avatar
Duncan Gillies MacLaurin Duncan Gillies MacLaurin is offline
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Well, if we're allowed to post Rose's poems here, here's another:


The Poet Who Will Win This Competition

studied Latin and Greek, and lets us know.
Doesn’t need to Google “Philoctetes”.
Was born approximately thirty years ago.

In high school, did her homework. Ate her Wheaties.
Strove, as an only child, to please her mom.
Dated a jock. Resisted his entreaties

until the time was right: her senior prom.
(Was able to go; her boyfriend wasn’t thirty.)
Never played Russian roulette, or built a bomb

from cigarettes and butane. Wasn’t nerdy,
just clever. Never ran away from home.
Never got paid for doing something dirty,

or snapped her gum, or stole a pocket comb.
Thinks poets who write of lurid things are lame
sensationalists; that life’s the Hippodrome,

that she’s in front, though others, to their shame,
take shortcuts. Never snorted something blue,
got lost in the amusement park, and came

home with a rash from only God knows who.
Never wrote anything foolish. Takes her fame
in stride; expects it. Never says “fuck you”.


Rose Kelleher, from Bundle o’ Tinder (The Waywiser Press, 2008)
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  #16  
Unread 02-03-2017, 07:54 PM
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RCL RCL is offline
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Ah, yes, the terza rima lines from her Italian soul!
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  #17  
Unread 02-04-2017, 09:58 AM
Max Goodman Max Goodman is offline
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Thanks, Gregory and Duncan.
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  #18  
Unread 02-15-2017, 04:49 AM
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Edward Zuk Edward Zuk is offline
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Since there's still time, I'll add this from Gilbert & Sullivan's "Yeoman of the Guard":

Oh! a private buffoon is a light-hearted loon,
If you listen to popular rumour;
From the morn to the night he's so joyous and bright,
And he bubbles with wit and good humour!
He's so quaint and so terse,
Both in prose and in verse;
Yet though people forgive his transgression,
There are one or two rules that all family fools
Must observe, if they love their profession.
There are one or two rules,
Half-a-dozen, maybe,
That all family fools,
Of whatever degree,
Must observe if they love their profession.

If you wish to succeed as a jester, you'll need
To consider each person's auricular:
What is all right for B would quite scandalize C
(For C is so very particular);
And D may be dull, and E's very thick skull
Is as empty of brains as a ladle;
While F is F sharp, and will cry with a carp,
That he's known your best joke from his cradle!
When your humour they flout,
You can't let yourself go;
And it does put you out
When a person says, "Oh!
I have known that old joke from my cradle!"

You can find the rest of it here:

http://gsarchive.net/yeomen/web_opera/yeomen_14.html
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  #19  
Unread 02-22-2017, 05:50 PM
Max Goodman Max Goodman is offline
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Thanks, Edward. (Sorry I didn't see your post sooner and was slow to respond.) This is delightful, and I wasn't familiar with it. I'm more familiar with Gilbert's "Bab Ballads" than his work with Sullivan.

And while I do now have three poems by others to include in my reading, I'm happy to learn of more possibilities. I might make a substitution, or I might read more than three by others (more by others and less by me is likely to improve the overall quality). Whether they make it into the reading or not, I like being introduced to good new (to me) poems.

Thanks.
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  #20  
Unread 04-02-2017, 12:57 PM
Max Goodman Max Goodman is offline
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Thanks again for all the suggestions. Out of several great poems, I opted for Hoagland's "Self-Improvement." It went over very well. In introducing it, I gave a shout out to Eratosphere and to you, James, for all the help. Thank you!
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