23 July 2010

chase a monkey

Chase a monkey through your poem
let it swing through the stanzas to come.
Make it the piggy backing shadow
of your character’s dark desires.

Send it to the aid of an organ grinder,
where its dancing fills cups with coins
and keeps them in bananas and rum
lifetime friends, monkey and man.

With a bright moon rising
pursue your primate
through the dusty streets of Mysore
simply to conjure the heady scent of sandalwood
that permeates the hot night air.

When it stops to screech
or scratch its hips
with monkey fingers flapping,
screech back at it.
Dare to dodge
the tiny pellets of poo
it keeps flinging up
from beneath your words.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Check out Big Tent Poetry, for excellent writing every week. This week we were asked to write a piece inspired by a favorite poet. Catch a Monkey is inspired by Billy Collins, Introduction to Poetry, where he suggests dropping a mouse into a poem. A monkey dropped into mine.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love this! Clever and great fun.

http://thelaughinghousewife.wordpress.com

flaubert said...

Oh Brenda this is too funny! I am still laughing!
Very clever indeed!
Pamela

Unknown said...

Maybe the mouse would be less trouble?! An entertaining romp. I love the scent of sandalwood in Mysore.

rob kistner said...

This was wonderfully engaging Brenda, very Collinesque, it had me ducking poo -- and smiling... ;)

...rob
Image & Verse

brenda w said...

Thank you for your comments. I'm glad I got you laughing, Pamela. :-) Derrick, I have a sandalwood Buddha I purchased in Mysore in 1987. I would love to visit again now.

Rob, Thank you for calling the piece "Collinesque." (sorry if the poo got you!)

rallentanda said...

I am in two minds about the poo pellets:)
Monkies are featuring prominently in your poems
lately.
'I see a bad moon rising
I see trouble on the way'

gautami tripathy said...

I enjoyed reading it!

cut and dried

brenda w said...

Rall--I've had an ongoing relationship with monkeys in my writing for years. Sometimes it's troubled, and sometimes spirited. Monkeys are my trickster, they sometimes fling poo. :)

Guatami- I'm pleased you liked it, thank you!

barbara said...

Love this. yes, I do.
You should send it out.

brenda w said...

Thank you for your encouragement Barbara. The language in your piece this week is stunning!

Linda said...

Oh how delightful and amusing--save for flinging pop.I learn something new every day.

Betsy Brock said...

Oh, this was so clever...wonderful writing! Thanks for visiting my blog! I just had to come over and meet you! :)

Francis Scudellari said...

This was great fun. We should all let our monkeys run wild occasionally. I could do with much more screeching, and pellet dodging.

I just heard Collins on the radio this morning. He didn't mention monkeys though :).

Elizabeth said...

I loved it and laughed, am still laughing. I think you did Collins proud. And would like to thank you for finding his poem and sharing it. This is wonderful stuff. Monkey poo might make a mess of mud, but mouse droppings would dot i's, create periods, colons, and an occasional exclamation point, that could wreak havoc if gone unattended.

Robert Lloyd said...

Now this was a very fun poem. I hate it when my poems fling poo but yours did it in awesome way. This made me smile after a long day. Thank you so much for sharing.

brenda w said...

Francis, I'll search for Collins and see if I can find that radio show. I love the narrative quality of his work, and that biting insight he dangles at the end of his pieces. May the poo find you and bless your work with its stench!

Elizabeth, Thank you for your kind words. I'm glad you followed the link to Collin's poem. If you play around at the site where it's located, you'll find a wealth of great poetry. I like Jane Kenyon's pieces the site houses. Click on the poetry 180 link under my "tangential treats" or on the page with Collins' poem. You'll find a list of all 180 poems. It is a wonder of a site!

Robert--Thank you for letting me know this piece made you smile. Comments like that make me know that I'm doing this for something or someone besides just myself. I appreciate your sharing. Hope you have the weekend off!

Tumblewords: said...

I love this! It sings with fun and daring!

nan said...

Ditto what others said. (I am late to reading.) This is clever and fun.

Anonymous said...

your explanation of the inspiration for this is delightful! and i love a monkey swinging from stanzas!