Thursday, August 29, 2013

A Christmas Calamity


Santa's workshop in North Pole, NY via Wikimedia Commons

Today's little ditty was inspired by Julie Larios' post last week.  At The Drift Record, Julie paid tribute to American poet John Hollander who passed away earlier this month.  One of the things John Hollander is known for is inventing the double dactyl form with co-conspirator Anthony Hecht.  Julie describes the form well (so I won't bother doing it here); but even if you saw her post last week, it's worth revisiting to check out the colorful poems that have collected in her comments.

I confess, at first I was intimidated by this form-- too many SAT words!  But when I took a closer look and saw how much fun others were having, I decided to pull up my boot straps and give it a try.  Little did I know, my boots would be the shiny black kind worn by a kindhearted man with a white beard, red fur-lined suit, and a special fondness for children and snack food!  Apparently my muse has had quite enough of this Florida summer.


                     THE UNFORTUNATE DEMISE 
                              OF OL’ SAINT NICK

                     Piggledy Jiggledy
                     Jolly Saint Nicholas
                     choked on his Ho Ho and
                     fell to the floor.

                     Baffling, laughable,
                     megaridiculous!
                     Elves know that Santa liked
                     Twinkies much more.

                               © 2013 Michelle Heidenrich Barnes. All rights reserved.


Now won't you please join Tara at A Teaching Life for all the goodies at this week's Poetry Friday roundup?  Oh... and I'll bring the Ho Ho's.




24 comments:

  1. Hi there Michelle! Glad to see Christmas in August (albeit it's about the death of St Nick) here. Thank you for introducing this poetic form and structure yet again to us. :)

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    1. Just give me one strong cool breeze and I'm good. Thanks for stopping by bright and early, Myra. :)

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  2. Love your double dactyl! Well done- and funny!

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  3. Awesome, Michelle. What a clever piece of light verse. You made good use of the form. Maybe "megaridiculous" will be the "omnishambles" of 2014 and make it into the OED.

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    1. Thanks Laura. :) I should be so lucky, right? Guess I won't hold my breath.

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  4. LOL!!! Wonderful fun! I will never look at a ho-ho the same way. My favorite part of the double dactyl is the line with the multisyllabic word. It's so neat how one word provides that perfect fit. In my last double dactyl, I used the word "overindulgences." Where else could I have slipped in that gem? :) Thanks for sharing, Michelle!

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    1. I don't know, Liana-- I manage to slip in overindulgences at every opportunity. ;)

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    1. Happy to have made you laugh, Anastasia! Thanks for dropping in.

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  6. No more candy canes in YOUR stocking!

    The Tooth Fairy

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    1. Sheesh! Someone's taking this a bit personal, don't you think Tooth Fairy? I didn't give him the Ho Ho... I'm just the messenger.

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  7. HoHoHo! Love the double-dactyl!

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    1. Merry Florida Summer, BJ! Thanks for cooling off here for a while.

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  8. Well done, Michelle. I saw the call for double-dactyls on another site, but just never got to it. Now you've got me inspired, but poor St. Nick!

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    1. Let me know when you've written yours, Linda; I'd LOVE to read it!

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  9. HA!! Love your 6 syllable pick!!

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    1. Yes, well, you may have noticed a found a work-around for the SAT word requirement.

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  10. This is simply delightful, Michelle! Thanks so much for sharing! = )

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