Aoril 2015
I am a retired high-school English teacher from Potts Camp, Mississippi. Life in general and my grandchildren in particular inspire me to write. I especially enjoy writing--and reading--rhymed, metered poetry and mourn its near-demise. I get a real charge out of parodying the famous poems I taught my students--while keeping a perfectly straight face and assuring them that studying such noble literature would greatly enhance their lives. I stay busy with a variety of activities at home and church.
Parody No. 1 of Emily Dickinson's
Because I could not stop for Death...
Because I blew him off the road,
He straightway ran me down,
Said, "Eighty in a fifty zone!"
Wearing such a frown.
He slowly wrote; he knew no haste,
And I'd become resigned.
I knew that I'd be lectured well
And subsequently fined.
Returning home I passed the school
And fields of gazing grain,
"No speeding now," I told myself.
"From such I must refrain."
While I beheld the setting sun,
Bemoaning my bad luck,
A swelling of the ground jumped up
And made me wreck my truck.
Since then 'tis been a week, yet I
Surmise 'tis still not fixed.
But walking really is a joy.
I could've been deep-sixed.
©2015 Janice Canerdy