So we're in the Overnight Guy's "Poetry 102" class today. Poetry 101 was one of those UN-appreciated journal entries from 1999; kudzu, smoke, walls and windows. Lucky for you, that style of writing never caught on. And since I created the "Explained Poem", I can go back play grab-ass with it whenever I want to.
In 1999, we had a single theme; windows. That was easy, and this is why we call that one "101". For 102, we are going to pair-up themes. Now, are you ready for paired themes? Definitely not. Is that going to stop me? Uh, no. The 2 themes are: I'm happy with my girlfriend; and, the world is ending. Don't concentrate on what's different between the 2, because you want to connect them. So what do we have? Not much; but we can work with the idea that 'she and I found out what was important--while the planet blew itself up'. Right. Good job. And we can do a trigger line into "winning the battle, but losing the war" (we found each other, and then we died). In fact, we're going to need to make that really, painfully good--because that's IT, that's ALL we have here. Great.
I don't even want to write a poem right now. I'm at work; I'm having a fantastic sales day; strong voice, total control, witty, amusing--I used to do this 6 nights a week on the radio; how? The LAST thing I want to do is screw THIS great day up by trying to count syllables or do "word-feelings". Okay. Right. The "need" to write poetry is actually diminished by the fact that I now HAVE my "insanely awesome" (oh that's cute--she'll love that) girlfriend. And (remember the paired themes), it's actually too late to write a poem to save the world...
The need for poetry is now erased;
The atmosphere for it has been replaced
Destiny delivered the ideal mate
No more "word-feelings", or staying up late.
Oh you think you're cool now? Sure; we have the girl, but where's the world ending? Paired themes, doofus; that's going to cost you a verse. So you still have at least 3 verses to go, and there had better be "paired themes" in all of them. Show me the link; what is the link? You get one free pass in the "winning the battle/losing the war" trigger, but it's gone if you use it here. Yeah; look at the concern on my face. Do it:
Is it "one less worry", or a "dream-like" place?
A method of movement: we walk, you race;
Enriched; "making" what we were looking for
Winning the battle, but we'll lose the war.
Welcome to paired themes; they don't have to BE pretty, they just have to BE there. And it's now personal...I consider our relationship a dream-like place; she considers our couple-ship to be one less thing she has to worry about. As individuals, we got tired of "looking" for a significant other ("SO"--her term). She and I have both been watching you idiots jump through those hoops of marriage and divorce like a real-life made for tv movie, or a cartoon (hmmm)--so we decided to "make" our own relationship; thank you. Wait; no, we have something there. Flip it, twist it, bring the cartoon over to the light side of the force. We "make" our relationship...like an artist "makes" a cartoon...but our cartoon will wind up being ended for us. So; the cartoon is now the link? Well; considering that we DIDN'T have a link, and NOW WE DO--yes goofus, the cartoon is our ONLY link. Do it:
Real-life, or t.v.? This "world"'s a cartoon
And you'll need to go find your "plot" pretty soon;
We're rubbing noses while they light the fuse
With no natural resources (left) to use.
Okay; now did everybody see that? Paired themes, the cartoon link, rubbing noses (aww), the "visual time-limit" of a burning fuse, and we get that all-important jab in about how the vegetarians and tree-huggers were correct all along. Damn. In one verse, the third verse, we went from an overall choppy idea to a streamlined speeding train going off of a cliff--with a time-bomb tick tick ticking in the background. MY poem! Oh yeah; do you see that "left" word in parenthesis up there? Well you guys don't pay me enough to delete unnecessary syllables anymore; so that line has 11, and you can kiss my ass.
On another day, with paired themes in the first verse, maybe you'll be done now. But not here. You used your free pass, and you used that secret "fuse" weapon very well, so how do we end this thing? Well IF this is Static Girl's poem, THEN it had better end nicely. The world will end nicely? No; but you can deflect emphasis by bringing it back down TO her--FROM death back to her; holding hands as it happens--or something. Let the colors run on the cartoon. Come on, the hard part was that 3rd verse; this should be easy. Do it:
Watch the mushroom clouds part as death descends
Where will you be when your cartoon life ends?
The colors run, as if, to emphasize
(We're) holding hands under these darkly-drawn skies.
And we're done. This whole thing was finished before midnight, too. I hope that you have enjoyed this exercise. I'd love to sit around with you and talk about how cool I am and all, but I have to go to bed now.
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Is it "one less worry", or a "dream-like" place?
A method of movement: we walk, you race;
Enriched; "making" what we were looking for
Winning the battle, but we'll lose the war.
Real-life, or t.v.? This "world"'s a cartoon
And you'll need to go find your "plot" pretty soon
We're rubbing noses while they light the fuse
With no natural resources (left) to use.
Watch the mushroom clouds part as death descends
Where will you be when your cartoon life ends?
The colors run, as if, to emphasize
(We're) holding hands under these darkly-drawn skies.