In Peter Coghill's Musing on Mastery thread here:
http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/ubbcount.cgi?expath1=Forum3&expath2=&topic=000692& ty pe=&number
wendy v has posted a Billy Collins poem which cries out for parody.
Those who think the following is worth extending are invited to do so; if not, to start new chain poems of their own.
Huevos Guillermitos, Over Easy
A poem's not a test to pass -
there's always time to make one art.
Think of tenth-grade science class,
and clumsily incise your heart.
A poem's not a bill to pay
(though pros must sometimes be on time.)
It's always better to delay
submission till you fix that rhyme.
A poem's not a business card -
expect no calls suggesting lunch.
The line is long to be Ronsard;
of Poet-Princes, there's a bunch.
A poem's not a shopping-list -
just the right words can't be bought.
They'll come when editors insist
their own words better suit your thought.
Your poem's not your Bill of Rights
proclaiming freedom from the rules
(as set by all the leading lights
who've managed to have sired schools.)
A poem's not a printing-press -
it cannot duplicate itself.
But poets can, so nonetheless,
a single book becomes a shelf.
[This message has been edited by Cal Reinhardt (edited May 27, 2008).]
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