Without Rhyme or Reason

[Dunc]

16 April 2015



CAPTAIN AUSTRALIA

If Martians are kidnapping Erica
for an intergalactical plot
you can send out for Captain America
and have the thing fixed on the spot.

Or cheetahs have chewed up your pony
and your sandwich is salted with sand
maybe Captain Sierra Leone
can lend a spectacular hand.

Your pension’s delayed in the stringdom
and your council house progress is mired?
Well, Captain Sir U-nited Kingdom
could help, but I hear he’s retired.

But when it’s your government’s failure
stupid, dishonest, unfit,
well there ain’t any Captain Australia
so you fix it yourself or eat shit.


  

[kristalynn]

Hehe to your Triolet. Thanks for the smile!

[GreaterMandalaofUselessness]

Hi Dunc,I enjoyed Captain Australia. Love the idea. I don't know much about Australian politics (sounds like ignorance may be bliss though), but I think you're right about Captain UK. Especially if you're looking for a council house or a welfare state.

Having done many Sevens with Rachael, I did know about the time difference, I just hadn't realised that your 16th poem was actually 15A.

-Matt
I knew about the time difference, it was just that I hadn't realised that your 16th poem was actually 15A

[Sorella]

Dunc,
On the bus to work, I remembered the date (about time!) and thought, Half way! then remembered Dunc's Half Way Mark Poem -- tradition is a great thing :-)

You have certainly motivated me with your cheerful yet moral ditty:

Take cheer! Night brings the morn –
only fifteen days till dawn

so grin and grab your pen
and do what you did again!

Yes, *sigh* -- I suppose so.

Sorella

[Angela]

Dunc,

John Barleycorn was a wonderful surprise in Easter! I am partial to Traffic's version, myself.

Ha! Narcissus has me laughing out loud! So punny, sir!

So glad I popped in.

Angela~

[BrianIsSmilingAtYou]

16 April 2015



CAPTAIN AUSTRALIA

If Martians are kidnapping Erica
for an intergalactical plot
you can send out for Captain America
and have the thing fixed on the spot.

Or cheetahs have chewed up your pony
and your sandwich is salted with sand
maybe Captain Sierra Leone
can lend a spectacular hand.

Your pension’s delayed in the stringdom
and your council house progress is mired?
Well, Captain Sir U-nited Kingdom
could help, but I hear he’s retired.

But when it’s your government’s failure
stupid, dishonest, unfit,
well there ain’t any Captain Australia
so you fix it yourself or eat shit.


  

God, I love this. I think Captain America may be overrated. We're all closer in spirit to Captain Australia than we like to think.

BrianIs AtYou

[Dunc]

Krista - my triolet's delighted with your praise!

Matt - Yes, once I'd had the Captain Australia idea, I fought the temptation to work my way through the UN.

Karin - I wrote that to cheer myself up, and I found it about as convincing as you did. Excelsior!

Angela - Yo! And they have taken a solemn oath, John Barleycorn must die! Great song, as you say. And I'm glad you got something out of Narcissus.

Brian - I think you're right. I waited and waited for Captain Australia to sweep up the mess, but no one came.


Thank you, one and all!

Regards / Dunc

[Dunc]

17 April 2015



PRAYER AND MANIFESTO

May a world exist external to me.
May my senses report it sufficiently.
May reason be a valid key.

Be these as I’ve guessed
I've pou sto for the rest
but be they a bubble
mate, I'm in trouble.



  

[Steven]

'TRUE ROMANCES'

I love the meter in this, particularly the closing couplet.

Always nice to visit a thread and learn something new, or read a form you hadn't read before.

All that aside, it's a good treatment of its subject to boot.

[Dunc]

Steven - Glad you enjoyed it!

Regards / Dunc

[Dunc]

18 April 2015



BLUE EVENING

Duck-egg, that washy tone,
and peach, a violent stripe,
drop on the suburbs

and the roof closes
black into ultramarine
glitter point pimpled.



  

[Dunc]

Gad! Running late and still running!


19 April 2015



LAMENT FOR MONTSERRAT FIGUERES

The air still holds the voice
glowing all the colours.
They from her height
drift as fine rain
bringing to the earth
what is of her
strong, beautiful and complete.


  

[JFN]

Dunc, so much fun to be had in these. I'm particularly fond of Tenants.

Final line of To the Leader is cleverly worked, and the Der! rhyme it's sublime.

Easter made me laugh, bitterly (not really) at the commercialisation of Christ in modern society. It's a thing that has always annoyed me.

my thought bubble / compounds my sin is oddly more concrete an image for me than a surface read might suggest. Who's out booking cars on Easter Sunday anyway?

The end of Narcissus is very pleasing indeed.

OPTIONAL COMPULSORY CAT POEM 2015 just made me think of Dogtanian, which I bought a DVD of for my daughter (myself) recently and has now been played on loop incessantly. Love it!

Your sonnet, True Romances, it's my favourite of these so far. There's nothing to not like.

I stand corrected on the previous statement having read Captain Australia. Absolutely hilarious. Thank you.

Blue Evening is lovely and colourful.

Nicely done all round.

John

[Dunc]

John - Many thanks! Nothing cheers a NaPoist up quicker than a kindly reviewer, and especially cheering for one who's behind with his poems and his fluffing!

Regards / Dunc

[Dunc]

20 April 2015




CONFUSION AND REMEMBERING FIRE

Muse
Why hide your emotions
you huggermugger old bugger
in flippancy, fantasia,
overintellectualisations
paronomasia?

Dunc
Hey, I’m just amanuensis, you’re the Muse.
I just do what you choose.
And I didn’t say paronomasia.

Muse
I’m the Greek here.
(Pause)
Well?

Dunc
Well, what?

Muse
Do you feel? Do your emotions
surge large as the oceans?
Do you feel? Love from above,
hate on first date?
Do you feel? More scope than a midge?
Or are you a fridge?

Dunc
Nah. Blokes are fated
to find those things complicated;
the more sharpened
the less we know what happened.

Muse
But what could be simpler?
Never doubt it! Just talk about it!

Dunc
Spoke like a chick!

Muse
Don’t be a prick.

Dunc
(shrugs)

Muse
But you know where I'm going for real:
what do you feel
hearing that an OG
has copped the big C?

Dunc
I prefer you mysterious
to serious.

Muse
Don’t sit there looking like a blot.
You feel something - what?
Sure, you recall old times and midnight chimes
and the usual rhymes
but do you still love her, still think of her?
Do you hurt, want to weep, lose sleep?
Will you fly up sooner or l-
ater for her funeral?

Dunc
I don’t know. Of course I will.
Maybe. I should do that before,
one last champagne as it were.
I’ll think about it. I’m still ...

Muse
Yeah, confused.

Dunc
It’s your fault I’m bemused.

Muse
Jokes, puns. Do you love her?

Dunc
Um.
It's not as if there weren't others.

Muse
But remember the fire!

Dunc
That went with desire
which the scene right now doesn’t require.

Muse
But it goes beyond friend.
Is nothing left at the end?

Dunc
Not nothing. Not just friend.
Not just memory. But I’ll work something out
in a year’s time. In my head.
I mean, she’s not even dead
so what’s it really about?

Muse
And that’s all?

Dunc
No, it’ll go on, not so small
but sheesh we’re going back decades here.
The more the wrong end of the telescope makes things clear
the more it makes them distant.

Muse
You are the lumpiest poet!

Dunc
I know it.
But when at some future time I show it,
it won’t be like this, it won’t be about me.

Muse
It’s always about the poet, mate.
That’s any writer’s fate.

Dunc
Enough! An end! A scotch?

Muse
Don’t mind if I do. How’s your crotch?

Dunc
(Looks up, surprised.)