Six Stanzons

1.

'little red rhyming hood'


little red rhyming hood
was not in the habit of keeping
her rhyming under her hat
no
so
she kept the woolph from the door
from her own and that of
her grandmaughter like
a good granddaughter
catchy rhymes keep woolphs aloof
none relish the embellishment of rhyme
or the scent or taste of thyme
because
(no reason no rhyme)
ship ahip
and buoy ahoy
and a bottle of rum
little red riding hum sang
that Alexander's horse was called
Bouquet fa loss
hoof rhymes with woolph
hoofs rhyme with woolphs
bouquet fa sol la si do


2.

'tímor mortis conturbat me'


the survival instinct must be
the least successful instinct of them all
whereas a death wish stands
as an example
of the most unwishful thinking
anyone can do
strange
that in the Middle Ages
there were far fewer people
than there are alive today
but that in those days
folk seemed more imbued
with fear of death
than their descendants of later
centuries
or perhaps just poets were
that
would be just like poets
come
to think of it



3.

'my funny Valentine'


my funny Valentine has beneath
her upturned tail
the shape of a small stylised heart

a cardioform anus?
but you must be joking

no I do not joke in terms
much like Latin
a heart-shaped ass-hole
no shit

send you a photograph?
wait for your next home-made
Valentine Card


4.

'guess what'


Joe bought himself a computer
Joe bought himself a nifty little printer
and some ink cartridges for
B&W as well as colour
Joe got connected to the internet
and went on to discover and explore
what that meeting-place of minds
is mostly used for
Joe regularly prints out pictures
downloaded from various web sites
and alone at night
is in the habit
of flicking through those pictures
deftly using his left hand
now guess what Joe at such times
holds in his other hand

guess what


5.

'obscure quotations'


oh my doggy
oh my doggy

a soprano crying out in what was
(normally) an alto voice

given the circumstances
I should have been flattered
with her exclaiming

but even at the time
she had me wondering
how much she liked dogs

6.

'ad infinitum'


an infinite number of identical
parallel universes as postulated
by some theorists brings the word
boring
well into range of infinity
let alone the idea
of an infinite number of absolutely
identical clapped out old poets
writing
absolutely identical lines of verse
ad infinitum
some
reading this will suspectedly find
it boring boring boring
in its own right

ah but then
my infinitely dear friends
(all things being equal)
so are you

Levi Wagenmaker
 

If you have any comments on this poem, Levi Wagenmaker would be pleased to hear from you.