Like many a royal personnage, the Princess
sometimes experiences la nostalgie de le boue.
She likes to kick off her dainty glass slippers
and squish a while through the fetid mud.
She loves the solecisms
of the common folk, the way
they call a spade a “fvcking shovel,”
but alas, the Princess
suffers under a curse
which is that even the foulest things
she utters or thinks
turn into poetry!
Last edited by PrinceMyshkin; 08-12-2007 at 01:28 AM. Reason: to mollify the resident bloody grammarian! Thanks, John
what a lovely curse and sentiment
Well, Jerry, I usually frown on the use of profanity in poetry, but I must say you come close to making the word dignified, and do not destroy your poem in the process. Well done.
Pen
Some of us laugh
Some of us cry
Some of us smoke
Some of us lie
But it's all just the way
that we cope with our lives...
On the general subject of profanity, obscenity or even blasphemy, might I assume that in a moment of stress or to make a point emphatically you might have used an off-colour word? Then why not in a poem? Because in my view even "love" or "peonies" or the name of your Lord might become 'dirty' if used in a blasphemous or insincere way.Originally Posted by Pendragon
Well, Jerry, I usually frown on the use of profanity in poetry, but I must say you come close to making the word dignified, and do not destroy your poem in the process. Well done.
Pen
But thank you indeed for recognizing that I used one such word without the intention to give offense.
Well, I like this and you know why...
Though, for some reason, it is impossible for me right now to put words on my feelings about this poem.
I can't tell why I like it. Maybe because no matter what the Princess does and how she behaves crazy sometimes, the Prince still loves her no matter what.
You may do more than assume, you may be certain of it! I am no more immune to the ravages of human emotion than the next man, even as Paul wrote in Romans. Poetry, I think rises above other forms of expression. One man's opinion need not rock the poetic world. I agree with your view, BYW, Jesus said "every idle word." The poem was excellent as I said, I rarely, very rarely see anything from you that isn't an instant prize winner. I say this not from friendship or flattery, but because I consider it to be truth.
Shalom.
Pen
Some of us laugh
Some of us cry
Some of us smoke
Some of us lie
But it's all just the way
that we cope with our lives...
Shouldn't that be 'turn into poetry'?
Yes, it SHOULD be, but so should a certain group of armed uniformed strangers get the aitch out of a certain country, and we should all eat green vegetables with every meal, phone our mothers regularly, pay our taxes in full and in geeral be more kind to each other and to Mother Earth!
PS. Now amended.
How apropos that it doesn't not be poetry anyway. Princess Rules!
One anomaly at a time...Anyway, pay taxes -> fund that war (Brits and US readers anyway). Some things are just so much trickier than syntax.
Much as I like aspects of this, I can't help feeling that what you're describing is not a curse.
Perhaps it is just my own subconscious reading into this poem, but oh yes, it is one of those curses like that of Cassandra. Sweet at first, but what happens in this case if the Princess wants to be foul sounding, off color, nasty, mean and can't. It does come in handy now and then.One anomaly at a time...
Much as I like aspects of this, I can't help feeling that what you're describing is not a curse.
I loved this last stanza!
Well, if she wants mud and isn't pulling it off, perhaps she needs to rip it up a bit more and avoid elegant phrases such as nostalgie de la boue, much as I like it. Lots of precedents and help available: Villon, Rabelais, Swift, Rimbaud, Artaud, Burroughs, Kathy Acker, Bukowski and, as they say on the ads for hits compilations, many many more.
Well, if she wants mud and isn't pulling it off, perhaps she needs to rip it up a bit more and avoid elegant phrases such as nostalgie de la boue, much as I like it. Lots of precedents and help available: Villon, Rabelais, Swift, Rimbaud, Artaud, Burroughs, Kathy Acker, Bukowski and, as they say on the ads for hits compilations, many many more.
i love Rimbaud, Burroughs, and Bukowski! great suggestions, blp!
"He was nauseous with regret when he saw her face again, and when, as of yore, he pleaded and begged at her knees for the joy of her being. She understood Neal; she stroked his hair; she knew he was mad."
---Jack Kerouac, On The Road: The Original Scroll
I do see what you mean about nostalgie de la boue but in this case it had a certain ethnic appropriateness.Well, if she wants mud and isn't pulling it off, perhaps she needs to rip it up a bit more and avoid elegant phrases such as nostalgie de la boue, much as I like it. Lots of precedents and help available: Villon, Rabelais, Swift, Rimbaud, Artaud, Burroughs, Kathy Acker, Bukowski and, as they say on the ads for hits compilations, many many more.
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