Things for Bright Young Poets to do No2

[Ca ne fait rien]

Breeding Goldfish.




Poets are hard to sex.
Some experts tell
by the lumps on their heads
but the novice must observe
carefully
until their abdomens swell
and they fripple their fins prettily
or chase another poet around
and bump against the knobbly bulge
until the eggs spurt out
precipitating
the immediate
and reflexive spray of milt.

Poets usually spawn in warm waters in the morning sun

Poetmeister! You must
remove the eggs at once
before the poets cannibalise
their fertilised creations.

Bucket them
in old water
with a rock and weed
maybe some water fleas
and wait.

Meanwhile feed the poets daily.
Drop bags of daphnia
into the bowl
a sparing pinch of flake
to sustain
colour and vitality
and keep them swimming
in convex fish-eye lens
circles
and for a special treat
as many ant-eggs
as it takes
to keep their mouths
going
po-em po-em po-em
bubble poem poem
blip

[billy]

i love it. okay i don't love it love it, but i do love it if you know what i mean.
i looked up fripple and got an urban dictionary definition of "an extremely itchy butt-hole (i kid you not )

or chase another poet around
and bump against the knobbly bulge
until the eggs spurt out

reminded me of mark hehe. (just kidding mark) i leave no
remedial remarks because i like it as it is. unlike the first in the series, this one has a perfect ending and a funny one to boot.
it makes me feel poets are to be thought of as something out of a harry potter film .
i really do enjoy nonsense poetry specially if it has an underlying truth like this one seems to have. (poets live in fish bowls, well a lot of em do )

thanks for the read.

[addy]

Don't think I'm going to touch this one. All in all, it's pretty bloody brilliant and I find it so charming I probably can't make an objective comment . That opening has got to be one of the funniest things I've read. Thanks for the read

[grannyjill]

Ditto of all that was written before me. (I've oodles to do, and shouldn't be sneaking on here...so must rush)

Loved it! You do realise that to satisfy our need for stuff like this you must now write a series?

bye, grannyjill

[Ca ne fait rien]

thanks all, appreciate the reads and comments.

My internet is running really slowly so will return favours ASAP when it doesn't take so long for pages to load.

[Leanne]

The metaphor definitely works -- particular for some academy-type poets, whose recollection of their ineptitude has been erased by the excited frippling of a sycophantic editor, who sprays them with the $13.50 going rate and sends the appropriated spawn off to the pulp mill.

I wonder if you could think of some alternatives to "daphnia" and "ant-eggs"? Those lines are just begging for extra punning.

Hugely good fun, Stef