blog cacophonyO is Ophelia who took the wrong path
04/18/2008 - National Poetry Month post #21, part of The Unlucky Twenty-Six
Ophelia would hike on the Marrow Moor trail,
or ride her black horse with the fine-braided tail,
or sit still for hours just watching a snail
and pay close attention to every detail.
She loved nature so, all the kids thought it strange
when Ophelia would sing "A Home On the Range"
or care for a gross dog all covered with mange
or fall in the mud and not bother to change.
She'd feed all the squirrels from the palm of her hand
and climb Marrow Mountain just to see the whole land
and come in to school all golden-brown tanned
and simply thought life an adventure most grand.
Her parents preferred she stay in and do chores
while Dad lazed all day knocking back cans of Coors
and Mom spent the afternoon cleaning her pores
but Ophelia just couldn't be stuck home indoors.
She'd wash up the dishes and scrub clean the bath
and do all her homework, including the math,
and cook all the meals to escape her mom's wrath
before she could go out to hike on the path.
Ophelia would never go out on a date
and walked her line's life so narrow and straight
and always got home by a quarter past eight,
and so earned the respect of the town's magistrate.
But her parents got meaner with each passing year
and her dad got more angry with each ice cold beer
and her mom got more ugly, unhappy, severe,
til Ophelia's life grew devoid of all cheer.
Then one day with all of her energy sapped,
she looked at her life and found she was trapped.
Then Dad called her lazy and then she just snapped
and got out his gun and her parents she capped.
The neighbors heard gunshots and called the police
who found poor Ophelia had earned her release.
She'd given her parents ten bullets apiece
and then shot herself, may she now rest in peace.
One of my writing goals for 2008 is to write at least one light verse or poem every week in addition to my haiku wednesday and fiction friday posts. I will try to do this on Mondays.
April 18, 2008
O is Ophelia who took the wrong path
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
7 comments:
Seriously, pjd, you should try and market these as humorous poetry for the kids within all adults. The publishers generally get the artist to do the illustrations, so you wouldn't have to do drawings first. But you really have a knack for this stuff!
This one is my new favorite.
Thanks, WW! I am hoping to do that. Of course, with a TV series, movie trilogy, Happy Meal toys... the whole bit.
Glad you like this one, though should we be troubled that the murder-suicide is the one you like best?
Silly me. I thought "took the wrong path" was gonna mean she got lost in the woods or something like that. But yes, murder-suicide works too.
Another great one, Pete.
Thanks, BT... my original thought was that she was going to get lost in the woods, eaten by a bear, etc. But these things have a funny way of creating their own twists that even I don't foresee when I start writing them.
Yes, you should be troubled. *eyebrow waggle* But I do write dark fantasy.
Wow! I certainly didn't see that ending coming. I think that you painted Ophelia beautifully. So likeable!
I agree with WW - I think these are gold!
Actually, WW, I was troubled the first time I saw your EE posts. :-)
Post a Comment