Are We Men or Mice?

[MorpheusSandman]

Are we men or mice?
Tell me please

I’m not (or am I?) Odysseus
My Odyssey’s internal
My Polyphemus is attached
To my shut wide
Third eye

Are we men or mice?
I know you tease

I’m not (or am I?) Achilles
I am my own Hector
I am my own heel
Whose wounds from
The Great Trojan battle
Won’t heal

Are we men or mice?
I’ll check for fleas…

I’m not (or am I?) Aeneas
My home’s intact
But I’ve lost my Dido
I’m sad and left wondering
Where did she go?

Are we men or mice?
I’ll not appease

I’m not (or am I?) Homer or Virgil
My myths have been mythtaken
My heroes lead
And now they’re dead

Are we men or mice?
I’ll ask you please;
May I have my cheese?

[cogs]

well, mice cannot fantasize. but they're pretty amazeing. you skillfully handled the allusions. thank you for the humor!

[Bar22do]

Are we men or mice?
Tell me please

I’m not (or am I?) Odysseus
My Odyssey’s internal
My Polyphemus is attached
To my shut wide
Third eye

Are we men or mice?
I know you tease

I’m not (or am I?) Achilles
I am my own Hector
I am my own heel
Whose wounds from
The Great Trojan battle
Won’t heal

Are we men or mice?
I’ll check for fleas…

I’m not (or am I?) Aeneas
My home’s intact
But I’ve lost my Dido
I’m sad and left wondering
Where did she go?

Are we men or mice?
I’ll not appease

I’m not (or am I?) Homer or Virgil
My myths have been mythtaken
My heroes lead
And now they’re dead

Are we men or mice?
I’ll ask you please;
May I have my cheese?

Jolly good! Morpheus! a fine mixture of humour and knowledge of the classics! and how reassuring that you only ask for cheese and not for men to eat for your meal, even if only because your Polyphemos eye is shut!
I enjoyed this poem so very much! thanks!

[PrinceMyshkin]

"Life is a tragedy for those who feel, but a comedy to those who think." Horace Walpole

And it is the occasion for witty poetry for those who do both, more or less simultaneously.

Bravo!

[firefangled]

Loved the playfulness with words and rhyme in this, Morpheus.

[Kutta]

G-r-e-a-t! It's so rare when a poem makes me laugh but you just managed it. Your skill of bending form and rhymes to your whims is steadily improving, I think :) This poem just reads so effortless, although it's probably more of a clue how much consideration and effort went into getting those lines right.

[Buh4Bee]

Morpheus- 2 of my favorite things- humor and the classics. Nice wit.

[Virgil]

Squeek, squeek. :p

It's enjoyable. ;)

[~Sophia~]

hmmm, why am I thinking mousetrap LOL. We are amused!

[qimissung]

I just have one question-gorgonzola or meunster? :lol:

[MorpheusSandman]

Thanks to cogs, Bar, Prince, Fire, Kutta, jersea, Virgil, Sophia, and qimi; I must say I'm pleasantly surprised at all the response to a somewhat frivolous "throwaway" piece of mine but, as I realize more and more, what do artists/poets themselves know about what will work and what won't? Might as well throw spaghetti at a wall and see what sticks. :D


"Life is a tragedy for those who feel, but a comedy to those who think." Horace Walpole - And it is the occasion for witty poetry for those who do both, more or less simultaneously.I just love reading your collection of wise aphorisms, Prince; you always seem to have a perfectly apt one. I often wish I could be lighter and humorous more often; there's something about the mixture of pathos and comedy/lightness that's so hard to pull off. If only I could capture in poetry what Ozu did on film I'd be a happy poet. :)


Your skill of bending form and rhymes to your whims is steadily improving, I think :) This poem just reads so effortless, although it's probably more of a clue how much consideration and effort went into getting those lines right.It's wonderful to hear you say this because as I write in meter/rhymes I always feel like the form is bending me! Though this was one of my more effortless pieces, actually; if I'm getting any better at using forms it's probably just the result of becoming a better sleight-of-hand magician rather than actually mastering them. ;)


hmmm, why am I thinking mousetrap LOL. I'm glad someone mentioned this since I had actually planned to make a more obvious mousetrap reference in the end but I thought maybe it was best left unsaid.

[blank|verse]

Captain: set the controls for intertextual overdrive!

Not much I can add, but yes, very playful. I think I almost banged my head on the keyboard when wincing at this:


My myths have been mythtaken

and what do you mean by this??


My Polyphemus is attached
To my shut wide
Third eye

I've not heard it called that before...

Nice 'please-tease-fleas' rhyme in the couplets throughout, which gave some semblance of form and... yeah, whatever, be off with yer!

[MorpheusSandman]

I almost banged my head on the keyboard when wincing at this:I gotta admit; I blatantly stole that from a Joss Whedon line in Buffy the Vampire Slayer where someone says "The Slayer... we thought you were a myth" and she replies "Well, you were mythtaken". I just always giggled at that and thought it fit well here.


and what do you mean by this?? I've not heard it called that before...I couldn't tell you myself. I liked the idea of equating the cyclops with the mystical "third eye" that's "shut wide" (something I borrowed from Kubrick's "Eyes Wide Shot").

Thanks for the comments. :)

[blank|verse]

I couldn't tell you myself. I liked the idea of equating the cyclops with the mystical "third eye" that's "shut wide" (something I borrowed from Kubrick's "Eyes Wide Shot").

Yes, I thought there was a hint of Kubrick in the phrase. However, it must just be my dirty mind, thinking it related to something more physical about a man's body, if you see what I'm saying...

[MorpheusSandman]

Ooh, I had not considered that. Well now I like your interpretation! :D