[Susan d.S.]

Some say the world will end with frost,
some say with fire.
I never have been partial to
predictions dark and dire.

I think the world will end with me,
I cannot see much further.
So what’s the point of worrying
oneself into a lather?

I’ll eat and feast and waste and leave
a footprint carbonate and bold.
I’ll eat red meat that cost the trees,
condition air too cold.

But when I’ve gone, let no man
say I haven’t done my share
for mother earth, for in my grave
worms shall be feeding there.


Interested if Spherians can think of a better rhyme pair than further/lather.
Does anything rhyme with "further"?

[John Whitworth]

Can't you say 'farther' instead. Then it rhymes better.

[Jerome Betts]

Maybe to keep the rhymes consistently monosyllabic you could recast the 'further' line as 'I can't see further on' and the 'lather line' as 'about when I'll be gone' ? Perhaps the first line of the last stanza could then be something like 'But six feet down, let no man'

[Susan d.S.]

Thanks John,"farther" is an immediate improvement. And thank you Jerome, for thinking with this. I will try this out. I at one point considered instead of further/lather, using "beyond/despond"---but I'm not sure how much despond is used as a noun these days, and it immediately sounds like more literary citation, as in "the slough of"---and I'm not sure that would be beneficial. "Beyond" also seems to dangle if in that place in the poem, and seems to want to be a noun ("the great beyond"), so I think I may have to stick with the off-rhyme.
Funny how nothing seems to rhyme with either farther or further...maybe father or Harvard or murder, if you are lispy or drunk enough.
Thanks!

[FOsen]

The man who had foretold collective fates
For decades in the square, for all to hear,
At some point wearied of predicting dates;
His sign now read, “The World Will End—Next Year.”
Which made some sense, at least, since he’d retired
A score of placards and revised his rants
As one by one, each doomsday had expired.
The local children heckled all his chants,
But Gran had made me swear I never would.
I’d sworn, but then I’d wanted to know why;
She'd reasons, she had said, and they were good.
I pressed her one day, as we passed him by;
The man was raving, loony, always wrong,
He was a public nuisance and a dunce.
“Aye, but,” she'd said, and hustled me along,
“He only has to get it right the once.”

Frank

[Donna English]

Originally Posted by Susan d.S.

Interested if Spherians can think of a better rhyme pair than further/lather.
Does anything rhyme with "further"?

I think the world will end with me,
I cannot see much further.
So what’s the point of worrying
oneself into a lather?



Susan, how about ?

I think the world will end with me
so spare me all your blather

[Susan McLean]

Frank, I like your poem, but the hexameter at the end is rather draggy. How about "But then, he only has to be right once."

Susan

[Susan d.S.]

Thanks, Donna! I had completely forgotten about the word "blather"--haven't heard it in years. It immediately made me think of Dan Rather. I suppose if the world really were ending, he'd be on the scene.
Thanks for the suggestion, will try it out.

[Donna English]

Originally Posted by Jayne Osborn

Martin,
Sorry to be so blunt but I strongly advise you not to submit this entry. It's actually highly offensive. There, I've said it.

After reading the... whatever that was...I don't think you need to apologize for being blunt, Jayne.

[Donna English]

I truly want to be the first to go,
I hope it hits me right between the eyes.
It’s not because I’m eager, heavens, no;
I’d rather have one helluva surprise.
Whether it’s a virus or a missile,
an asteroid, or giant solar flare
mum’s the word-- I’ll plug my ears and whistle
so I won't hear the how, the when and where.