Friday, April 14, 2023

PAD Day 14: A Parody [Warning: Language]

 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.

 
 
 
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:

judydykstrabrown.com said...

Both timely and very well done. A+

ARHuelsenbeck said...

Nicely done! Well-channeled rage.

Arti said...

Congratulations on getting featured today. This is brilliant.

Elizabeth Boquet said...

Perfect. Yup. Exactly. Thank goodness NaPoWriMo is also in April, n'est-ce pas?

Vince Gotera said...

Congrats, Bruce, on being featured in NaPoWriMo today. Great poem ... fun, kinda (if I didn't have to do taxes too).

Poet Voice said...

Congrats on something good coming out of April 15, Bruce!