Saturday 19 September 2015

Book lice (frida)


I was born in a
Fine old edition of Schiller
                                                While I started life
                                                in a private eye thriller
We’re book lice                      We’re book lice
who dwell                               who dwell
in these dusty bookshelves.  in these dusty bookshelves.
Later I lodged in
Scott’s works—volume 50
                                                While I passed my youth
                                                in an Agatha Christie
We’re book lice                      We’re book lice
attached                                 attached
despite contrasting pasts.     despite contrasting pasts.
One day, while in search of
a new place to eat
                                                He fell down seven shelves,
                                                where we happened to meet
We’re book lice                      We’re book lice
who chew                               who chew
on the bookbinding glue.      on the bookbinding glue.
We honeymooned in an
old guide book on Greece
                                                I missed Conan Doyle
                                                he pined for his Keats
We’re book lice                      We’re book lice
fine mates                              fine mates
despite different tastes.        despite different tastes.
So we set up our home
inside Roget’s thesaurus
                                                Not far from my mysteries,
                                                close to his Horace
We’re book lice                      We’re book lice
adoring                                   adoring
despite her loud snoring.      despite his loud snoring.
and there we’ve resided,
and there we’ll remain,
                                                he nearby his Shakespeare,
                                                I near my Spillane
We’re book-loving                 we’re book-loving
book lice                                 book lice
                                                plain proof of the fact
which I’m certain I read
in a book some months back
that opposites                         that opposites
often are known                     often are known
to attract                                 to attract.

Fleischman, Paul. “Book lice.” Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices. New York: Harper Trophy, 1988. 15-17. Print.


- lower sec
- unconventional love
- imagery, personification, alliteration, rhyme

- pairs to read out loud and vary beat/ rhythm, emphasis; can re-write poem as picture (visual poetry)

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