Fractured Verse
{A Bumbershoot Special Feature}

William Butler Yeats

The Second Coming As fractured by Michael Cantor

There once was a dunce falconeer
who discovered his bird wouldn’t hear
        imprecations to halt
        (they shared the same fault),
as the Beast slouched increasingly near.

 

Among School Children As fractured by Chris Childers

I walked through a school-room one day
and dreamed about young Maud at play.
        But she aged and lost weight, so
        I thought about Plato.
Am I dancer or dance? I can’t say.

 

The Lake Isle of Innisfree As fractured by Henry Quince

Will I settle in fair Innisfree?
Grow beans to the buzz of the bee,
        the crickets’ shrill singing,
        the linnets’ loud winging,
and the lake’s endless lapping? Not me!