A Telephone Encomium | 12 [ballade]
What finally is a telephone?
how did it enter the realm of being?
was its forebear wraught from stone?
now our phones mix sound with seeing!
morn till night the phone long serves
its tirelessness & utility
win praise its constancy ne'er swerves!
who'd doubt the phone's ability?
When faring abroad afar & alone
in car or bus on train or skiing
sallying into the vast unknown
(Beijing-Milan Bombay-Parising)
the phone informs of your glooms & verves
it broadcasts with such agility
your inward thought (all lines & curves)
who'd doubt the phone's ability?
The importance of the phone is known
to diplomats & children fleeing
boogeymen its fame has grown
(though cads take it for granted) keying
numbers on its face unnerves
nor dunce nor toddler docility
is its keyword Vishnu-like it preserves
who'd doubt the phone's ability?
O Prince O Princess! quell reserve!
don't treat your phone with hostility!
it's a human thing like brain & nerve!
who'd doubt the phone's ability?
posted by david raphael israel at 11:30 AM
2 Comments:
What an interesting trigger for poetry.
I went through your telephone poems and I found them rather good. You've exploited all possible ideas/resonances that could have been squeezed out of that visual.
thanks much River. The image seems to have some interesting implications, so I've looked at now this, now that, true. Not sure it's quite exhausted though. ;-)
In terms of poetry forms, I've not yet tried the (daunting -- or at least never tried by me so far) sestina. Waits to be seen if I take this any farther, maybe not with that 'umble phone . . .
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