The State of Poetry by Roger McGough
Yesterday I bought no. 48 in the "pocket" series that Penguin has brought out to celebrate its 70th anniversary. This one is "The State of Poetry" by Roger McGough. Here are a selection of his (comical) poems that I really like (although I haven't finished reading the book yet, so I may be making additions...):
*Conservative Government Unemployment Figures
Conservative Government.
Unemployment?
Figures.
*Clerihew
Jane Austen
Got lost in
Stoke-on-Trent.
Moral: She shouldn’t have went.
*Bath – Avon
I have a problem with Bath
I use the short a, rhyming it with math,
Whereas southerners put in the r. Barth.
So my living there would be a kind of hell
(Although a lovely place by all accounts).
Never have an operation you cannot spell
Or live in a town you mispronounce.
Yes, maybe they are silly poems, but it's been a long time since I laughed out loud at a book.
*Conservative Government Unemployment Figures
Conservative Government.
Unemployment?
Figures.
*Clerihew
Jane Austen
Got lost in
Stoke-on-Trent.
Moral: She shouldn’t have went.
*Bath – Avon
I have a problem with Bath
I use the short a, rhyming it with math,
Whereas southerners put in the r. Barth.
So my living there would be a kind of hell
(Although a lovely place by all accounts).
Never have an operation you cannot spell
Or live in a town you mispronounce.
Yes, maybe they are silly poems, but it's been a long time since I laughed out loud at a book.
posted by jennywren | 3:25 PM
2 Comments:
My favourite totally silly poem is "The Duck" by Ogden Nash.
Behold the duck.
It does not cluck.
A cluck it lacks.
It quacks.
It is specially fond
Of a puddle or pond.
When it dines or sups,
It bottoms ups.
I think you should read a book by Simon Armitage. All his are great, especially Kid and The Dead Sea Poems.
Glad to hear that you're going to New York. It'll be great fun. Totally gutted to not be about to live in York, now that everyone I know is actually leaving it. I promise to keep a journal. (Was in a stationer's yesterday and thought "00h, I'm supposed to keep a journal" and looked at the journals. Sadly all interesting stationery seems to be pink or covered with flowers.)
I have actually read "All Points North" by Simon Armitage. Yes, I really like his stuff, and I've even see him (at some A-level conference - if you can call it a conference - in Leeds). He's funny. I'll have to get hold of the books you mentioned.
Yes, NYC should be great. We might even have a chance to go to Boston too... And then it'll be back down to earth with a bump with the pgce... I'm going to do some pre-course reading now actually. Woo.
If you need to borrow anything for camping during your travels, I can lend you a lilo, if you like. And/or a mat to sleep on. If you like.
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