Sydney Poetry

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A NEW POEM

A POEM DRAWN FROM A YEAR 7 ENGLISH CLASS, EARLY MARCH 2013

The new boy

with a drained pen

raises his slow arm

and asks,

Sir,

if a sloth loses

its grip, does it fall

slowly?

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Permalink Reply by Lorne Johnson on March 8, 2013 at 10:29

Catherine... What is a poem? What if a sloth DOES fall slowly? LJ

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Permalink Reply by Dermott Ryder on March 9, 2013 at 8:50

Catherine:

If I interpret your subtext correctly I discover an assertion that this short work is yet another take on a hoary old joke reporting a real or imagined ‘cute' encounter.

Refer the satirical scientist of children’s television, professor Julius Sumner Miller [1909-1987], he did a lot of this sort of thing to entertain and educate children.

As for it being a poem, I too have my doubts… however… If one accepts the definition of free verse as ‘unrhymed verse lacking a consistent metrical structure’ perhaps it qualifies.

Also refer to the venerated [by Americans] William Carlos Williams.

THIS IS JUST TO SAY

William Carlos Williams -1883-1963]

I have eaten

the plums

that were in

the icebox

and which

you were probably

saving

for breakfast

Forgive me

they were delicious

so sweet

and so cold

This work, in free verse form, may at least claim originality, ingenuity and an innocent but elegant simplicity without playing the ‘cute’ card.

Lorne:

Clearly, Williams understands the nature of poetry and is no sloth when it comes to demonstrating it.

Regards

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Permalink Reply by Lorne Johnson on March 9, 2013 at 9:06

Dermott,

Thanks for reading my poem and having an opinion on it. I think you need to read more of Les Murray's work so as to truly understand the presence, diversity and originality of the pithy poem. Start with Poems the Size of Photographs... This work may help you define what a poem is.

Lorne