10.4.11

Holly, it’s folly

Oh what another winner hath landed Holly!
The best thing about him is that he’s jolly.
He ogles young women voraciously
and slurps his coffee rapaciously.
His looks betray that he’s five times your age,
dear Holly, and it takes no sage
to figure out
that he buys his clothes at McDowd.
Those thick, froggy-eyed specs
imply there won't be much sex.
In short, my angel, between you and me,
you are, as usual, barking up the wrong tree.

– Felix Morgenstern (© 2011)

Written for day 10 of NaPoWriMo.
Today, the idea was to “try to write a poem backwards. I don’t mean letter by letter, or word by word, but line by line. Start by writing out an old saying that takes the form of a declarative statement. Like “Birds of a feather flock together,” or “A miss is as good as a mile.” That will be the last line of your poem. The next line you write will be the second-to-last, and so on, until you reach the “beginning.” To help you keep your focus, let’s say that the poem has to be an address to someone or something that can’t answer back – a person who is absent, or an animal or inanimate object.”
I followed the rules ... well, more or less. I did indeed choose the final saying first. As to the rest, I kept writing new lines and rearranging them to such an extent that I no longer remember what initially was first, second, third, etc.
The address is definitely to someone who is absent – apart from the name, nothing is said about Holly, even though it's clear that she seems to have a serious case of bad judgement.

8 comments:

vivinfrance said...

Excellent use of the prompt. I couldn't work out if he was rich - I don't know McDowd. If so, that's why Holly is no fool!

Iself said...

Thanks for your comment, vivinfrance!

McDowd is not a real store; it's simply to imply that the clothes he buys are dowdy.

Mariya Koleva said...

Great piece! So smooth to read and fun! Thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

This gave me a giggle. Well done on getting a decent poem from a difficult prompt.

brenda w said...

ha! This one made me laugh.

Stan Ski said...

somewhat daunting prompt, but you certainly made it work.

Andy Sewina said...

Nicely done, this works both ways!

Love the way the big words rhyme too!

Judy Roney said...

What a great response to a difficult prompt. This made me laugh. "Those thick, froggy-eyed specs
imply there won't be much sex.
"cracks me up!