Thumbing through the notebook I use for writing pieces to be read at a meeting of our writers’ club, Writing on the Wharfe, I saw a ‘poem’ which I thought I had never read. Evidently I did when there were few members there so I read it again today.
The theme set for today, ‘Change’, prompted another bit of nonsense in the form of an acrostic.
Facebook
So many people on the hook
They’ve forgotten how to write
They’ve forgotten how to spell
Punctuation is nowhere in sight
While distorted grammar makes me yell.
Lies broadcast at random
Often with overphotoshopped pictures in tandem.
Plagiarism is rife
Just forwarding others’ work, not acknowledging the source.
Bullying too often takes a life
Particularly of the young and vulnerable, of course.
It all began with an idea which was great,
Now so often it is just an instrument of hate.
Recent changes are not to improve it,
Just to make bigger the owner’s pot of gold.
If it were up to me I’d remove it
But will any who have the power be so bold?
If I could I’d never give it another look.
Do you get the idea? I really dislike Facebook!
Acrostic
‘Cos of a little variation
He subjected himself to some radiation
Atoms and the like are not to be messed about
Neutrons should be left alone without doubt
Grizzly face is all that remains
Electrons pouring out of each of its veins
All change
Electrons are probably no longer there
Grizzly features covered with hair
Neutrons lost in their neutrality
Atoms give the face brutality
He shouldn’t have gone through that door
‘Cos the sign said ‘No entry’, and more.
February 5, 2020 at 12:18 pm
Lovely wordage. I tried writing an A to Z poem with most of the words in each lineage having the letter beginning the verse in it.
Abominable acrid acid pits, cause agonising abscesses
Accursed aggressive animals attack with aimless avidness.
A brutal bitter biting brood of black barbaric bloodless beasts
Bite on the bloody broken bones of braggarts beaten whilst bickering.
……that sort of thing. Crap….but good fun. It was linked to my working with clay. Celtic travelling figures made in my pottery/ceramics days. It was the description of a bad place in a short story. Love your poetry. All the best.
February 5, 2020 at 1:49 pm
Thank you Gray. You’re right, it is fun isn’t it – playing with words.
A while ago I spent an hour or so on a barge with the ‘eyup poet’ Matt Abbott and he convinced me of the value of ‘restriction’, ie making yourself observe some self-imposed rule while writing and I’ve enjoyed trying it ever since, from acrostics to, eg, an ‘English sonnet’.