Today's prompts from Write Better Poetry and NaPoWriMo: (1) Write a "now for something completely different" poem (doing something poetically you haven't done yet this month, or something not normally characteristic of your style), and (2) write a parody of a famous poem, or a satire based on a famous poem.
Regarding the first prompt, my "something completely different" is a poem that uses profanity, something I rarely do, especially the "F-bomb." But consider the source: I am doing a parody of Philip Larkin's "This Be the Verse." (I've provided the original below in case you aren't familiar with it.) I should say that my opinion of the IRS may not necessarily be quite as negative as the poem implies.
This
Be the Verse
by Philip Larkin
They fuck you up, your mum and dad.
They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you.
But they were fucked up in their turn
By fools in old-style hats and coats,
Who half the time were soppy-stern
And half at one another’s throats.
Man hands on misery to man.
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
And don’t have any kids yourself.
by Philip Larkin
They fuck you up, your mum and dad.
They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you.
But they were fucked up in their turn
By fools in old-style hats and coats,
Who half the time were soppy-stern
And half at one another’s throats.
Man hands on misery to man.
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
And don’t have any kids yourself.
This Be the Season
by Bruce W. Niedt
They fuck you up, the IRS,
They're cruel, and arbitrary too.
They leave your life all in a mess,
And save some extra strife for you.
But they have fucked up everyone
With unfair rules and rigid regs,
They audit you, and when they're done
You can't afford a dozen eggs.
This monetary misery
Will deepen like a seismic fault,
A rich, sadistic history
For any agent worth his salt.
6 comments:
Both timely and very well done. A+
Nicely done! Well-channeled rage.
Congratulations on getting featured today. This is brilliant.
Perfect. Yup. Exactly. Thank goodness NaPoWriMo is also in April, n'est-ce pas?
Congrats, Bruce, on being featured in NaPoWriMo today. Great poem ... fun, kinda (if I didn't have to do taxes too).
Congrats on something good coming out of April 15, Bruce!
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