Tag: poetry

Poems

April 17 Birthday: Sean Bean

ROMPoetry

seanbeanIt’s not a poem about or by Sean Bean, but here he is reading Wilfred Owen’s poem “Anthem for Doomed Youth.”

Anthem for Doomed Youth

What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
      — Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
      Only the stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells;
      Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,—
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
      And bugles calling for them from sad shires.
What candles may be held to speed them all?
      Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes
Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes.
      The pallor of girls’ brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.
–Wilfred Owen
NOTE: In honor of National Poetry Month, each day a person’s birthday will be celebrated with a poem about or by him/her. The poems come from all over the place.
Poems

April 16 Birthday: Charlie Chaplin

ROMPoetry

chaplinCharlie Chaplin Impersonates a Poet

The stage is set for imminent disaster.
Here is the little tramp, standing
On a stack of books in order
To reach the microphone, the
Poet he’s impersonating somehow
Trussed and mumbling in a
Tweed bundle at his feet.
He opens his mouth: Tra-la!
Out comes doves, incandescent bulbs,
Plastic roses. Well, that’s that,
Squirms the young professor who’s
Coordinated this,
No more visiting poets!
His department head groans
For the trap door. As it
Swings away
The tramp keeps on as if
Nothing has occurred,
A free arm mimicking
A wing.
–Cornelius Eady
NOTE: In honor of National Poetry Month, each day a person’s birthday will be celebrated with a poem about or by him/her. The poems come from all over the place.
Events

April 14 Birthday: Anne Sullivan

ROMPoetry

anneA Quote that is a Poem

What if my hunger is fed with all that seems most palatable, what if my enemies bite the dust…what if my house is full of friends and laughter…what if my garments of finest silk cling and flow—if the endless lives that touch me as I pass are cold and hungry and joyless. My spirit’s light goes out. I grope in the darkness. The world is a windowless dungeon.

–Anne Sullivan

NOTE: In honor of National Poetry Month, each day a person’s birthday will be celebrated with a poem about or by him/her. The poems come from all over the place.

Poems

April 13 Birthday: Seamus Heaney

ROMPoetry

heaneyDeath of the Naturalist

All year the flax-dam festered in the heart
Of the townland; green and heavy headed
Flax had rotted there, weighted down by huge sods.
Daily it sweltered in the punishing sun.
Bubbles gargled delicately, bluebottles
Wove a strong gauze of sound around the smell.
There were dragonflies, spotted butterflies,
But best of all was the warm thick slobber
Of frogspawn that grew like clotted water
In the shade of the banks. Here, every spring
I would fill jampotfuls of the jellied
Specks to range on window sills at home,
On shelves at school, and wait and watch until
The fattening dots burst, into nimble
Swimming tadpoles. Miss Walls would tell us how
The daddy frog was called a bullfrog
And how he croaked and how the mammy frog
Laid hundreds of little eggs and this was
Frogspawn. You could tell the weather by frogs too
For they were yellow in the sun and brown
In rain.
Then one hot day when fields were rank
With cowdung in the grass the angry frogs
Invaded the flax-dam; I ducked through hedges
To a coarse croaking that I had not heard
Before. The air was thick with a bass chorus.
Right down the dam gross bellied frogs were cocked
On sods; their loose necks pulsed like sails. Some hopped:
The slap and plop were obscene threats. Some sat
Poised like mud grenades, their blunt heads farting.
I sickened, turned, and ran. The great slime kings
Were gathered there for vengeance and I knew
That if I dipped my hand the spawn would clutch it.
–Seamus Heaney
NOTE: In honor of National Poetry Month, each day a person’s birthday will be celebrated with a poem about or by him/her. The poems come from all over the place.
Poems

April 10 Birthday: Brian Setzer

ROMPoetry

brianThis Cat’s on a Hot Tin Roof

Well, this cat’s on a hot tin roof
Drinkin’ that whiskey, 96 proof
Don’t need no doctor, don’t feel no pain
My legs are just two steps ahead of my brain

This cat’s on a hot tin roof
This cat’s gonna shake it loose
This cat don’t get the blues
‘Cause this cat’s shakin’ on a hot tin roof

Well, this cat’s been out on the town
I’m the cat’s meow, I’m the king with a crown
My head is spinnin’, I got the shakes
Can’t stop now ’cause I got no brakes

This cat’s on a hot tin roof
This cat’s gonna shake it loose
This cat don’t get the blues
This cat’s shakin’ on a hot tin roof

Well, there ain’t no point in holdin’ me down
I’ll kick and I’ll scratch and I’ll howl
Hey, hound dog, get outta my way
‘Cause this cat is on the prowl

Oh, this cat’s on a hot tin roof
Jumpin’ up and down like a long neck goose
Shimmy and shake, baby, you can’t fail
Rockin’ so hard that it’s off of the scale

This cat’s on a hot tin roof
This cat is gonna shake it loose
This cat don’t get the blues
‘Cause this cat’s shakin’ on a hot tin roof

This cat’s on a hot tin roof
This cat gonna shake it loose
This cat don’t get the blues
Well, this cat’s shakin’ on a hot tin roof

–Brian Setzer

NOTE: In honor of National Poetry Month, each day a person’s birthday will be celebrated with a poem about or by him/her. The poems come from all over the place.