Thursday, April 10, 2014

Stairwell Stanzas



image borrowed from bing


Stairwell Stanzas

“Breed not a savage dog, nor permit
a loose stairway.”--Talmud quote. 


She stared at
                 the
              street
                       but never
                                saw
                               what
                                      was there. 
                                              When a sprinkler
                                                                   bec
                                                                 omes
                                                                        abstract
                                                                                 art
                                                                                 all
                                                                                    the robins
                                                                                           begin
                                                                                                 to
                                                                                        become
                                                                                        art
                                                                                        critics.
 The seventeen 
               cables
                     got
                         busy perfecting
                                                a
                                            new
                                                  knot of metal
                                                              fellow
                                                                 ship.
                                                                      Rusted Fords
                                                                                     make
                                                                                         the
                                                                                             best homes
                                                                                                           for
                                                                                                          lots
                                                                                                   of angry
                                                                                                   hungry
                                                                                                   spiders.
                                                                                       Ah hell,
                                                                                 swing
                                                                               your bale
                                                                         up, Bob;
                                                                     there’s
                                                                  plenty of
                                                              space.
    Then we all went out & gobbled pizza,
                                                              the end.



Glenn Buttkus

Posted over on dVerse Poets MTB

Today, Gay wants us to develop our own form of poetry; I call this Stairway 
Verse. It is superb descendant dissonance. 

Would you like the author to read this fun poem to you?

15 comments:

Brian Miller said...

ha. cool form...i love the concrete and playing with the way words look on a page...it adds artistry...ha and i have met a few spiders in old cars...and check under the seat for snakes too...just saying...and everyone is a critic...smiles.

Beachanny said...

I thought this was great "shaped" poetry. Is there a formula for the descending staircase? Does it work going up as well. I like it a lot especially the second as it is very complete and architectural. Apt to the subject matter as well.

Mary said...

Any time is a good time for pizza!! Whatever reason works for me.

I like your style - poetic style, that is. Still cogitating here.

brudberg said...

After a brilliant climb like this I would also need pizza.. Loved the flow of this.. Would be challenging to do in wordpress..

Glenn Buttkus said...

Gay, no mathematical formula for the form, just lining up the words as typed on the page; which did not transfer cleanly from my document to the blog site, by the way. I considered ascending stairs, but felt
it would be confusing, read backward, too pretentious.

Gabriella said...

I'd love to eat a pizza praying I do not meet your hungry spiders on the way down.

Anonymous said...

love the idea of robins becoming art critics. Fun poem!!

Anonymous said...

Well one can certyainly climb down or up it Glenn. Nice job. >KB

Anonymous said...

Oooh, Glenn, I admire your patience in making sure this worked visually, as well as enjoying the narrative! I almost immediately dismissed the idea of 'shaping' my poem - not least because I wrote it on my phone! Haven't had pizza for a while... :)

Beachanny said...

Probably right Glenn (about the prententious bottom to top - still presented left to right (and not as
many steps) it might work. I like it and will try it somewhere along the way. Thanks.

Michael said...

I always loved concrete poems, mainly because I could never get them right, not as you have done, excellent visual image a swell.

RMP said...

first...this has a really nice visual appearance.

second...the verses are quite nice. I particularly like the robin as a critic.

Anonymous said...

I'm just a robin, but I'm not marking a statue :)

Glenn - this was innovative and fine

Marina Sofia said...

Ha! Great fun - I especially love that final step on safe ground back on earth...

Rosemary Nissen-Wade said...

A fun poem in various ways!