[New-Poetry] Poem With Common Words

[TheOldMole]

I love it. Even more compressed and vivid than your first one. But what 
are all those unnecessary spaces between the groups of letters?

James Cervantes wrote:
> langpo version:
>
> world life
> day week year
> man woman part
> child problem case
> work place thing
> eye time hand point way
> person number group
> government company fact
>
> - Jim, again
>
> On 11/29/07, TheOldMole <Opus40-01 at opus40.org> wrote:
>   
>>
>> POEM IN COMMON WORDS
>>
>>
>>
>> From the Oxford English Dictionary:
>>
>> The list of top 25 nouns: time, person, year, way, day, thing, man, world,
>> life, hand, part, child, eye, woman, place, work, week, case, point,
>> government, company, number, group, problem, fact.
>>
>>
>>
>> There comes a time in every person's life,
>>
>> When he or she must face a crossroad, joint
>>
>> Or several: a career, a husband, wife,
>>
>> Serving the Lord, if you He doth anoint,
>>
>> Or brigandage, the pistol and the knife,
>>
>> Or pure sloth. To take a case in point,
>>
>> Consider Olaf: we'll give him a voice,
>>
>> The Everyman who has to make a choice.
>>
>>
>>
>> Consider Olaf: by vocation, plumber,
>>
>> When first encountered, chauvinist and jerk,
>>
>> He'd be the second lead in Dumb and Dumber.
>>
>> He figures, what's a job without a perk?
>>
>> --Takes several, but at last they've got his number,
>>
>> It's One too many. Now he's out of work.
>>
>> Perhaps, he tells himself, it's for the best.
>>
>> I'll take a year off, and I'll start a quest.
>>
>>
>>
>> What have I never tried? His first thought's group
>>
>> Sex, but it turns out that presents a problem.
>>
>> His abs and biceps long have flown the coop,
>>
>> He's left with a physique approaching blobdom.
>>
>> He sighs, and dips himself another scoop.
>>
>> Were he a master thief, perhaps he'd rob them,
>>
>> But chocolate marshmallow and licorice
>>
>> Leave him with none but Hershey for a kiss.
>>
>>
>>
>> His next solution is to overthrow
>>
>> The government – he'll start his own conspiracy!
>>
>> He calls Pat Robertson to raise the dough –
>>
>> It doesn't work. He's just accused of heresy.
>>
>> Maybe Bill Gates? No luck for our poor shmoe,
>>
>> He has to face a rap for software piracy.
>>
>> He's sentenced to a year and then a day,
>>
>> He knows there's got to be a better way.
>>
>>
>>
>> He vows his malefactions to atone.
>>
>> His sentence up, he's tossed out on his rump and he
>>
>> Bounces in the direction he's been thrown.
>>
>> Then, skidding to a stop, he hears a bump and he
>>
>> Swivels around to find he's not alone,
>>
>> In fact, our Olaf's got himself some company.
>>
>> A soft, warm hand is holding his, a human
>>
>> Touch, a sympathetic eye: in short, a woman.
>>
>>
>>
>> The thing is, Olaf's found that life's not part
>>
>> Of anything – it is the world, the cosmos is
>>
>> Enfolded in the place we call the heart.
>>
>> A home, a child – we find it by osmosis,
>>
>> Not once a week, but every day – we start
>>
>> And end with just this thought; it's more than gnosis,
>>
>> It's Zen, it's karma, everything we're hot for,
>>
>> Our Olaf has become a bodhisattva.
>>
>>   --
>> Tad Richards
>> http://www.opus40.org/tadrichards/
>> http://opusforty.blogspot.com/
>>
>> The moral is this: in American verse,
>> The better you are, the pay is worse.
>>  --Corey Ford
>>
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>>
>>
>>     
>
>
>   

-- 
Tad Richards
http://www.opus40.org/tadrichards/
http://opusforty.blogspot.com/

The moral is this: in American verse,
The better you are, the pay is worse.
  --Corey Ford