Commentary by Tark Mackintosh
‘Poem.’ The title of the poem is ‘Poem.’, with a period.
I know the poem Professor Stout already knows the poem he wishes to write, and it is in his life both day and night. The reader is left to decide for themself whether this is the poem that is plaguing the careworn insomniac.
hard to put in line Difficult to get down on paper. The vagrant poem clings to Professor Stout like a greedy flea. His only chance is to write it, yet when he sits down to do so, the poem has hopped off to gorge on different blood.
breeze Clearly intended to rhyme with trees in the next line. The rhyming arrangement is AABB through the duration of the bad poem.
spoken word Not content to be read in silence, the bad poetry shall shortly be blurted, and disseminated into people’s shuddering ears. Technology is not always used for the good of others.
mountain…pine…river…zephyr The idyllic call of the poem is compared to a pleasant summer wind. Yet it is a siren call, for the poem is bad.
flower This is essentially the kind of poem that would mention flowers.
everywhere Would you eat it on boat? Would you eat it with a goat?
winter’s lap In fact an original and striking image. If winter has a lap she must surely also have a bosom, and perhaps icicle teeth, and arcenic rose-red lips.
poem’s chime The poem has at last become an entity, a creature that strides among us. Beware the poem — its rattle is a chime.
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