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Sunday, February 20, 2011

Sunday Poetry XVI' -- THE EPIGRAM and an EPITAPH

Epitaph
Timothy Steele
Here lies Sir Tact, a diplomatic fellow
Whose silence was not golden, but just yellow.

Epigram Engraved on the Collar
of a Dog Which I Gave to His Royal
Highness
Alexander Pope
I am his Highness' dog at Kew;
Pray tell me, sir, whose dog are you?

Readers and Listeners Praise
My Books
Martial
Readers and listeners praise my books;
You swear they're worse than a beginners.
Who cares?  I always plan my dinners
To please the diners, not the cooks.

Of Treason
Sir John Harrington
Treason doth never prosper; what's the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.

Moderation
Robert Herrick
In things a moderation keep,
Kings ought to shear, not skin their sheep.

Her Whole Life is an Epigram
William Blake
Her whole life is an epigram: smack smooth, and neatly penned,
Platted quite neat to catch applause, with a sliding noose at the end.

A Politician
E.E. Cummings
a politician is an arse upon
which everyone has sat except a man

Prayer
Langston Hughes
Oh, God of dust and rainbows, help us see
That without dust the rainbow would not be.

This Humanist Whom no Beliefs Constrained
J.V. Cunningham
This Humanist whom no beliefs constrained
Grew so broad-minded he was scatter-brained.

Jamesian
Thom Gunn
Their relationship consisted
In discussing if it existed.

A Venus Flytrap
Brad Leithauser
The humming fly is turned to carrion
This vegetable's no vegetarian.

Fatigue
Hilaire Beloc
I'm tired of Love: I'm still more tired of Rhyme.
But Money gives me pleasure all the time.

Variation of Belloc's "Fatigue"
Wendy Cope
I hardly ever tire of love or rhyme--
That's why I'm poor and have a rotten time.


Taken from Literature; An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama; Seventh Edition

2 comments:

  1. My favorites:

    "Readers and Listeners Praise My Books," "Of Treason," and then the real gravestone in the picture at the end.

    ReplyDelete

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