The Day the Poetry Died
A long, long time ago
I can still remember how the poetry contests made me want to write
And I knew if I took my chance there were those I could entrance
And maybe they'd be happy for a while
But apathy made me shiver with every poem that I'd deliver
The contests became unraveled, a lonesome road never traveled
So I remember that I cried when the contests shrank and dried
But something broke down deep inside the day the poetry died
So bye, bye Litnet Forums, guys
It’s been fun but now the competition has dried
And them good old boys quit writing in rhyme
So goodbye people goodbye
Did you write your poems for love, about fate and life and God above
Writing to win you know
Now do you believe in rhythm and rhyme, poems that kept meter and time
And can you tell me why the contests slowed?
Dark Muse wrote her cryptic lines
I always seemed to write in rhyme
Yesno was there and many more
Man we lost something that we can’t ignore
I was a broken down and aging buck
Whose poetry made some star-struck
But I knew I was out of luck
The day the poetry died
So bye, bye Litnet Forums, guys
It’s been fun but now the competition has dried
And them good old boys quit writing in rhyme
So goodbye people goodbye
Been a member since 20 aught 5
And the company made me feel alive
But that's how it used to be
When the Dragon sang for the king and queen
In couplets, villanelles, and other schemes
With a voice that came from upbeat to misery
Oh, but sometime when I weren’t around
The people lost their interests in crowns
I said the courtroom was adjourned
A guilty verdict was returned
And while new poets tried to leave their Mark
Entire threads were placed in park
And we sang dirges in the dark
The day the poetry died
So bye, bye Litnet Forums, guys
It’s been fun but now the competition has dried
And them good old boys quit writing in rhyme
So goodbye people goodbye
Helter skelter competition faltered
I was working without a safety harness
Reaching for the stars and falling fast
Felt like everyone was hooked on grass
Some of us tried tried for a forward pass
But poets were sidelined and forgot their craft
Now people wrote in sweet perfume
Minimalist, Form, Subject, and to this tune
Well It could have been a blast
Oh, but we never got the chance
'Cause the poets forgot their sense of taste
As they watched their mouths fill up with paste
Writing seemed just to be a waste
The day the poetry died
So bye, bye Litnet Forums, guys
It’s been fun but now the competition has dried
And them good old boys quit writing in rhyme
So goodbye people goodbye
Oh, we were all in one place, drawn together by a common fate
Why can’t folks seem to understand?
So come on Dragon write some more
You will only find your rhymes ignored
Oh, and as I watched the contests race
Then fall apart, my spirit ached
Spent all of my days in hell
No contests broke the spell
And as the poetry burned high into the night
The Contests became a sacrificial rite
I saw Satan laughing at me with delight
The day the poetry died
So bye, bye Litnet Forums, guys
It’s been fun but now the competition has dried
And them good old boys quit writing in rhyme
So goodbye people goodbye
I met a girl who wrote the blues
And guys that penned some happy news
Now they all just turn away
I visit oft the sacred thread
Where our contests first began
But they have went ignored for many days
The lines they wrote to make me scream
The lovely sonnets and blissful dreams
But the thread was broken
The poetry lost its motion
And three poets I admire began
Dark Muse, Yesnno, and Cacian
To barely write at all again
They caught the last train for Ireland
The day the poetry died
So bye, bye Litnet Forums, guys
It’s been fun but now the competition has dried
And them good old boys quit writing in rhyme
So goodbye people goodbye
Pendragon © Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Parody of Don Mclean’s “American Pie”
