Word Garden Word List--Immortal Poems

 

Hello my little bargain hunters! Our List this week is taken from a rather interesting source--Immortal Poems of the English Language, Oscar Wiliams editor. It's copyright 1952 originally, but my paperback edition is from the 24th printing, in 1970. I chose words from poems by Yeats, Auden, Frost, Eliot, and numerous others.

Even our unhoused friend can afford Immortal Poems.

I bought it at a used book store for 50 cents, an absolute age ago. (It's original brand-new price was a whopping 95 cents!) This set me to thinking. Your average current potboiler will set you back 25 dollars or so, while Immortal Poems of the English Language was got for half a dollar. (Full disclosure: I just checked it on Thriftbooks.com and they want $8.39 for it in "acceptable" condition. Mine is falling apart after decades of constant use but I got my fifty pennies worth!)  This says something about the value placed on poetry in our modern world, as opposed to mere entertainment, I think. I am far too humble and witless to say exactly what, however. I am shy. Demure. I can hear all of you snickering, so straighten up and fly right, you lot!

Anyway, rabble, what we do here is to use at least 3 of the 20 words provided in a new, original poem of our own. Then simply link up, visit others, and then settle down with Immortal Poems and a nice beverage of your choice. Coffee, double cream for me, please. This prompt remains active through Saturday. 

And Now, your List!

animals

craves

deep

dripping

eaten

epitaph

fabric

fish

genuine

guts

heaps

hello

hollow

hour

mirror

names

she-wolf

shrine

skies

sphere

I feel confident that I can predict one of the words that Sherry will use!

Sensei At Sunset

 

And so, once again

I speak to you of the rat--

the bachelor rat--

who visits my garage.

He is a good rat,

even a fine one as rats go.

Never once has he lied to me

or tried to be anything

but what he is.

I feed him each evening

but tried to stop when the weather improved.

He came out and looked at me

as if to ask what had happened

and couldn't we overcome it?

I admire the rat.

He harbors no silent resentments.

He is who he is

all the time

and perhaps that is why he is alone.

I am alone also

and I am who I am, as the rat teaches.

I have a fine dog.

Many birds come to visit

and I feed this rat

rather than trying to kill him.

Goodnight, good sir.

I am grateful for your life

and my own.

___________

for Dverse Meeting the Bar. 

Music: Leon Russell Stranger In A Strange Land

At Breakfast

 

at breakfast

your smile

made me want to smash it

as bravely fragile things

sometimes do.

at lunch

I called you

like climbing Everest

because it is there

and like a metronome

because it always has.

At dinner

I made something nice

that our son wouldn't eat.

I said,

starve then.

you said,

what would you like instead?

At midnight

you wanted it

but I

kissed the dog,

told him I love him

and rolled away from you

like a pearl

from a broken strand.

______

shared with WGO? open link