Welcome to The Tangled Branch!  Join us.

Escape goat

General Poetry - post, comment, review, critique
Post Reply
User avatar
Mark
Posts: 586
Joined: Sun Jan 07, 2018 4:19 am

Escape goat

Post by Mark » Wed Jan 17, 2018 1:56 pm

My PC is a patch-up of bubblegum and string
Creaky dial-up modem squeaks and squeals
And faints at a distant hint of lightning
My monitor needs a set of trolley wheels
Don’t mention updates or anti-virus
It will be quicker with quill and papyrus
The fuzzy printer’s on the fritz again
The manky mouse sticks now and then
A puppy chewed off an unimportant cable
When it rains a bucket crowds the table
The window screen lists a little bit to port
One buzzy speaker has come to naught
A silly spring in the ram-jam CD tray
Seems to have gone randomly astray
When I thump and bash the letter e
This is what I see - eeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Is this a silent scream by a vowel
Trapped in two-fingered typing hell
My farm computer is a useless dumbass
It writes crap like this for my poetry class.


 

User avatar
Mark
Posts: 586
Joined: Sun Jan 07, 2018 4:19 am

Sitrep

Post by Mark » Wed Jan 17, 2018 2:07 pm

Okay, so this is my test post in PYP. I have to say I don't like that there is no option but to have the title in the body of the page. I also don't fancy all that guff - name, date and time of post - hanging around under the title if it has to be there. I also don't seem to be able to create any white space between all that and the text itself. All bit of an eek factor for me - sorry.   

gaviano
Posts: 19
Joined: Tue Jan 16, 2018 9:08 am

Re: Escape goat

Post by gaviano » Wed Jan 17, 2018 2:35 pm

It's good fun, Mark. I'm sure I've owned this technological set-up and one point or another in my life.

The rhyming scheme drifts from an ABAB to an AABB after the first few lines and I think I would prefer it if it was consistent all the way through. Also, some of the beats are a little wobbly in places. Couplets like:
Don’t mention updates or anti-virus (10 beats)
It will be quicker with quill and papyrus (11 beats)
Might be smoother as:

Don't mention updates or anti-virus
It'd be quicker with quill and papyrus


Thanks for the read!

indar
Posts: 3025
Joined: Sun Jan 07, 2018 8:00 am

Re: Escape goat

Post by indar » Wed Jan 17, 2018 2:45 pm

Yeah.

Well I can't blame my computer but you don't need to---got a good laugh from this one. Especially liked:

And faints at a distant hint of lightning

 

User avatar
Marc Gilbert
Posts: 145
Joined: Sat Jan 06, 2018 7:02 am
Location: Chicago, USA
Contact:

Re: Escape goat

Post by Marc Gilbert » Wed Jan 17, 2018 7:56 pm

Not sure what you intended here based on your comments. It's funny intention or not, you seem to be unable to escape your own abilities:
aints at a distant hint of lightning
What a line! likewise:
When it rains a bucket crowds the table
It's a fun read by a damn good poet. Can't ask for more.
"Poetry is not speech raised to the level of music, but music brought down to the level of speech." - Paul Valery

User avatar
Sharon Leigh
Posts: 450
Joined: Sun Jan 07, 2018 4:07 am
Location: Midwest US

Re: Escape goat

Post by Sharon Leigh » Wed Jan 17, 2018 9:58 pm

Ha! Now you make me want to write one about my geriatric phone :D

Good times. Thanks for the read :)

Best,
S

Amie
Posts: 58
Joined: Mon Jan 15, 2018 8:17 am

Re: Escape goat

Post by Amie » Thu Jan 18, 2018 1:45 pm

Before I even saw the author name, I knew "Escaie Goat" had to be by Mark :)

It reads well, and is funny. Have you thought of formatting it as couplets? I think it would work well as an animated poem :)

User avatar
Mark
Posts: 586
Joined: Sun Jan 07, 2018 4:19 am

Re: Escape goat

Post by Mark » Thu Jan 18, 2018 2:08 pm

Thanks to gaviano, Linda, Marc, Sharon and Amie for reading and commenting on my first poem post here. This what it's all about, isn't it?  A big thanks to all who made this possible.
The poem is an oldie, one of my first outings at MWC back in 2012 abouts. It's meant to be comedic and i usually lapse into crude rhyme for that.  :roll:  I got the title from when I was editing these awful manuscripts from a UK vanity publisher -the writer meant scapegoat but referred to "an escape goat". I found it hilarious but then anything helps when editing 60k words of rubbish.   Thanks again.   

Post Reply