May Poetic License
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To quote Public Enemy: “Once again, back is the incredible.”
That’s right, it’s time once again for Pensieve’s Poetic License, the monthly poetry carnival designed to stretch one’s creaky poetic muscles.
This month, not only is the form one I’ve never done before, but I’ve never even heard of it.
Clerihew, named in honor of Edmund Clerihew Bentley, who is said to have written the the first poem of this form. They should have called it the Bentley, but I guess Clerihew sounds more “la tee da.”
Anyway, I have a sneaking suspicion that Robin just made up this form last week and wrote the Wikipedia entry herself, but I’ll play along anyway.
The form is simple: four lines; AABB; first line is the subject of the poem (usually a name); should be funny. All clear?
Oh, and the theme for this month is celebrations, as in Cinco de Mayo, Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, etc. There’s also Hamburger month, Mental Health month, Asparagus month1, and many, many others.
I wrote four poems this month, and while I’ll admit that Robin’s made-up poetry form was hard at first–I kept wanting to finish these as limericks–once I got the hang of it, it was a bit addictive.
So here we go. My first poem is in honor of Mother’s day:
Teri Heck2
Always thought her son such a wreck.
Each night she would drop to her knees and pray,
“Please Lord, may my son never need a toupee.”
Happy mother’s day mom! I hope you like your present… 
The next two are in honor of Mental Health month. Sarah is a Psychologist, so how could I not write a few of these? Here’s the first:
Sigmund Freud
And those crazy theories he always employed.
“It’s your mother,” “You’re repressed,” he constantly plugs,
I guess that’s just standard when your doc’s hooked on drugs.
The second is for all you Lost fans3 out there:
Hugo Reyes, they call him “Hurley.”
Lately, he’s been acting kinda surly.
He’s convinced that even the dead ain’t dead,
But what if this whole show is all in his head?
Finally, I thought I’d write one for National Hamburger month:
That Burger King
Shows up in an instant, new items to bring.
In the commercials, people laugh and cheer and shout,
But they’re crazy. That dude really creeps me out.
And on that note, I bid you good day. Comment here, and then go read some other awesome made-up-style poems.
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May 8th, 2008 at 6:49 am
Brandon (and Sarah), please don’t take this the wrong way, but I totally have a crush on you after this post (typos notwithstanding):
a) Footnotes! How the heck do you do FOOTNOTES?
b) I kept wanting to finish them as limericks, too! I had a hard time breaking from that meter!!
c) You wrote FOUR! And they’re all reeeal good!!
d) You credited me with a poetic genre. Which is kind of inspiring–now I wanna come up with a poetic genre, write 10,000 poems, and have people blogging a “Robin” poetic form…or maybe it should be a “pensieve” except J.K. Rowling would probably sue me.
e) Your best entry to date! I can tell you were havin’ fun…and isn’t that what it’s all about?
f) I had to think twice about what “who wrote the smelly pee poem” was about…but then I backed up, found the footnote, and la tee dah, I figured it out. Maybe I need to go back and write one now.
I’ve scared you, haven’t I?
May 8th, 2008 at 8:46 am
Teri, you should be proud! Maybe I should do one:
Sharyl Hoge
She should be on the cover of Vogue.
This weekend she will see Annabelle.
A keeper for sure, not to sell.
What do you think, Brandon? I think mine might be better than yours!
Happy Mother’s Day Teri!
Jenifer
May 8th, 2008 at 11:34 am
Robin, Always onto my typos… I think I’ll be emailing you all of my posts before hitting “Publish.”
And not scared, but I do think Sarah is angry with you now… 
.
a) Using a plug-in for Wordpress. It’s awesome, they might do one for Typepad also…
b) Glad I’m not the only one.
c) Thanks!
d) She would probably sue you, but you might just win… give it a try.
e) Thanks. and yes, it is.
f) You should. I certainly thought about it, then figured I’d better not. You’ve got more cred, so I say go for it.
Jenifer,
Very nice! Not as good as mine, of course, but Annabelle is certainly a keeper!
May 8th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
Brandon son
You truly are a wonderful one.
You a wreck? Oh come on now really,
A toupee on you would look really silly!
May 8th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Yeah! I love them all.
I am assuming that Teri is your mom - she did good too!!!!
I love the BK one - yes, that guy does freak me out.
May 9th, 2008 at 9:15 am
Mom, that was great! We’re getting the whole family in PPL now. Robin would be so proud.
Karmyn, thanks! She did do well, didn’t she?
And seriously, how does Burger King think that tat guy is a good mascot? An entire generation of children are having nightmares about that dude.
May 9th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Ok, I have to try one too since everyone else is doing it!
Brandon, my brother
I sometimes cannot believe that we share the same mother.
You have always said that I was left by a gypsy,
Perhaps it was the one I met today, from Poughkeepsie!
May 9th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Shauna, BRILLIANT!!! I laughed out loud, and you know how difficult it is to make me do that…
Nice work, for a child of gypsies.
May 9th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
Hi Brandon, I enjoyed reading your poems and also the ones from commenter’s.
May 10th, 2008 at 10:02 am
Those are really good! Love the first one about your mom (good job tying in Mother’s Day). Thanks for visiting me.
May 10th, 2008 at 11:44 am
Peter, Thanks for stopping by and for commenting. The link you left is broken though, so comment again if you see this. I’d love to check out your site.
Dawn, Thank you for visiting me and for commenting!
May 13th, 2008 at 9:34 am
Okay, despite entering a little late in the game, here’s what I came up yesterday while we were running. Oh how my mind wanders on that treadmill…
Brandon Daniel
My love for you requires no manual
Can’t believe the years since we met have been nine
Being married to you makes me so happy you’re mine!
Or, a slightly different version
Brandon, my love
We fit each other like a glove
Can’t believe the number of years since our wedding are five
Being with you makes me glad to be alive!
Love ya!
May 13th, 2008 at 10:57 am
Wow babe, these are great. You made me smile and laugh! I loved them both! Ditto on all of it.
And I love you too!
I think these great poems deserve their own post!
May 13th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
[...] you see my May Poetic License entry from last week? Did you see the comments? If not, you missed out. The Clerihew theme inspired some [...]
June 6th, 2008 at 5:31 am
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