bad form (original) (raw)

never try to use the word 'rhyme'
in a pairing with the word 'time'--
it's bad form--like calling yourself
cliche--or trying to sound french.
giving advice, too, a terrible mistake,
like trying to write sonnets, or imitate--
calling the bard familiar, like 'dj shake'
it's something kind parents might put on a shelf.

i give myself kind words, too,
in chicago where the wind blew,
broke in forms, like sestinas
taken apart. i do speak french,
though, and advice from older poets take.
it's still a compliment to imitate,
if you can rationalise being a fake,
sort of, at least to yourself.

you can mispronounce 'thyme',
or 'nuclear' or bebop, shoo-doo-be-doo,
or try to compare to art itself--
it's bad form. but dig that trench,
if revolutionaries instead of money make,
and to other powers let quality rate.
pretend to be at walden, oversized lake,
and create wordy stories of imaginary elf.