Dear Arthur,
This is great fun. If my ears don't deceive me, you've taken a few
liberties with the stresses, but that's perfectly acceptable in a modern
sonnet. Authors sometimes slip in an alexandrine (line with 6 iambs) for
variation to emphasize a line. I once got praised for my cleverness in
putting an alexandrine at a paticular point, and had to admit it was a
mistake- I just hadn't noticed the extra iamb.
Kind regards,
grasshopper
----- Original Message -----
From: "arthur seeley" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, January 19, 2003 7:13 PM
Subject: [THE-WORKS] New Sub: Death of a Falstaff
An earlier poem reworked as a sonnet:
Death of a Falstaff. 2002
At flicking beer mats I am an adept
as street-wise as the world is wide, I’ve set
echoing streets aloud with bawdy song
and swilled and sang as midnight’s come and gone,
while through the reeling darkness of the night
I’ve waltzed the shadow of my late delight,
smoothly she moved and swayed like meadow grass
under a summer breeze, my slender lass.
This tutorial of tubes, clean sheets and drip
confounds me now, they have me on the hip.
Some Mistress Quickly comes and goes all day,
collects my body's wastes while I decay.
A lard-arsed lump, I slowly fail and chill.
I refuse to obey and die - yet will.
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