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Unread 08-13-2012, 05:32 AM
Mary McLean Mary McLean is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Cambridge UK
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Fun choice. I discovered Felix Dennis a few months ago on the excellent poetryarchive.org website. The recordings really make his poetry (his voice is wonderful). My favorite of his is 'Downsizing', but I do also like 'Summer of Love'.

The main thing that comes across even on the page is his savage wit. I think that's what makes this poem. He really lets his younger self have it; but with affection too. There's nostalgia, but the poem doesn't drip with it the way some populist writers can, because of the darker undercurrent.

As far as the surface goes, the syntax is clear and the meter is reasonably regular (trochaic with varying numbers of feet per line). If this is a specific form I don't recognize it. There's not much enjambment to break up the monotony, but the sing-song effect is presumably what he's going for. The repetition of the first 2 lines in each stanza contributes further to making this feel like a song. (Is he perhaps the Anti-Dylan?)

Dennis has published an enormous number of poems, and I think a lot of them are probably stinkers, but I like this one a lot.
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