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Antics

by joanie 

Posted: 08 June 2006
Word Count: 222
Summary: In response to the exercise in Poetry Seminar


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You can disregard my labours
as I rush with great intent;
you can spray me with insecticide
but still I'll be content.

Why does industry annoy you?
Just delight in my travail;
time to worry when my movements
are as sluggish as a snail's.

Forget the goals and the aims
and the stress they represent.
I'll keep working for my pleasure.
I'm content.

Do the hours I spend digging
endless tunnels make me spent?
Or do I thrive on working
just wherever I am sent?

Do your garden edges suffer
when I make my kingdoms come?
Does the making of my bedrooms
start to spoil your lovely home?

You can visit Garden Centres,
seek advice, all kindly meant.
You can lay down deadly poison,
but still I'll be content.

Are you angered by my calmness?
Is your patience almost spent?
Still I go about my business
just the way I always went.

Down in the depths, burrowed and safe.
I'm content.
Up in the air, a six-legged waif,
I'm content.
I'm a black insect, determined and keen,
working instinctively, cold-faced and mean,
leaving behind any thoughts of repose,
I'm content
with my lot. I can smell the new rose -
I'm content.
Only agreeing to do what is right,
I am the warrior, ready to fight.
I'm content.
I'm content.
I'm content.







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Comments by other Members



tinyclanger at 17:45 on 08 June 2006  Report this post
OOoh, I KNOW what it is!! (Sorry, still a hopeless Poetry Seminar lurker!)
Won't say anything, though, Joanie....
but I enjoyed the energy of this.
x
tc

joanie at 18:24 on 08 June 2006  Report this post
Hi tc. You are a very welcome lurker!! Lurk anytime.

Thanks for reading.

joanie

NinaLara at 20:11 on 08 June 2006  Report this post
What fantastic rhymes!I really enjoyed this ... and very seasonal, I thought! I'm feeling really dense; I don't think I'll be any good at this game at all. I'll be asking for clues soon. Well done Joanie! It is so different from the work of yours that I've read.

Nina
x

joanie at 20:18 on 08 June 2006  Report this post
Thanks Nina. I knew which poet I wanted to base this poem on but I was struggling a bit until I saw an ant scuttling past my feet. (I was in the garden!)

I'll wait to reveal all - it's a well known one!

Thanks for responding!

joanie

Nell at 06:35 on 10 June 2006  Report this post
Hi Joan,

This is very teasing! I feel I must know the poem you've based this on yet it's proving elusive. Love the clever title, which allows you not to name the insect, making the poem seem almost like a riddle, the refrain, which becomes more and more insistent. This is going to worry me all day!

Nell.

Elsie at 09:47 on 10 June 2006  Report this post
Joanie - right now I have no idea - but it's very clever. I'll have to ponder this one - might have to take take a sneaky looks at some anthologies.

joanie at 10:04 on 10 June 2006  Report this post
Nell and Elsie, thanks! As I said in response to Foriam's, the writer must assume the source is very obvious, but perhaps it isn't. I thought you would all know this instantly! I'll keep quiet a bit longer. Thanks for reading.

Joan

joanie at 12:14 on 10 June 2006  Report this post
Actually, the metre isn't strictly correct, especially in the final repetitions. Just 'Content' would be better in the last part. I'm getting paranoid now in case I have totally messed up! At least tc said she knew it .... but she might be wrong! Oh, no!

joanie

Elsie at 12:52 on 10 June 2006  Report this post
Hmm - this is a very tricky task.

joanie at 13:10 on 10 June 2006  Report this post
Think Black American Woman. Think author, poet, historian, songwriter, playwright, dancer, stage and screen producer, director, performer, singer, and civil rights activist.

Think hairs rising on the back of your neck.

Joan

Elsie at 13:17 on 10 June 2006  Report this post
ooh, OK - time to do some research ...Maya?

joanie at 13:18 on 10 June 2006  Report this post
Yes!


Elsie at 13:21 on 10 June 2006  Report this post
Got it - still I rise...

<Added>

(But TC knew anyway...)

joanie at 13:23 on 10 June 2006  Report this post
Phew! Not too obscure, then! .... I hope....



Elsie at 13:26 on 10 June 2006  Report this post
Not at all - it's the last 3 lines that give it away...

tinyclanger at 15:48 on 10 June 2006  Report this post
Do I get a prize??
x
tc

joanie at 23:14 on 10 June 2006  Report this post
Most certainly! Please apply enclosing A4 sae, to the address of your choice. Well done, tc, and it's good to see you.

joanie

paul53 [for I am he] at 08:09 on 11 June 2006  Report this post
I must confess that one failing I have in the poetry area is that - apart from WW Site - I don't read much new poetry, and what I do read of established poetry is more likely to be along the lines of "once more through The Four Quartets" or a reread of someone's collected works.
Therefore, I am abyssmal at guessing the originals unless they have a unique structure. But that being said, it means I have the bonus of reading these as "stand alone" pieces of work, plus the later pleasure of comparing them to the original.
This is a fine poem, the plight and pluck of the ant a good metaphor for any undervalued worker in today's headlong society.

NinaLara at 10:27 on 11 June 2006  Report this post
I didn't know this poem and, after a trip to poem hunter, have decided I like yours just as much. The last Stanza of Still I Rise is very powerful, but the first section doesn't grab me much. Your poem has the advantage of originality with a touch of humour.

Nina

joanie at 17:08 on 11 June 2006  Report this post
Foriam and Nina ... Thanks!

joanie


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