August 2013 Flashback

Here’s a post worth recycling.

Give this word a whirl:

Poetaster.

Any guesses?

Potato taster?

gleaming_poetaster3

Photo by Scott Bauer, USDA ARS via Wikimedia Commons

Try again.

Poet … taster?

gleaming_poetaster2

Portrait of Elizabeth Barrett Browning via Wikimedia Commons

Uhmmm, no, not that either. No eating of poets, no matter how yummy their words.

It’s actually pronounced poh-it-as-ter,

negating the whole “taster” angle.

Poetaster actually refers to

a bad poet, a disaster, a poet-aster.

Bad?

Yup.

Wikipedia tells us that “The faults of a poetaster frequently include errors or lapses in meter, badly rhyming words which jar rather than flow, oversentimentality, too much use of the pathetic fallacy, and unintentionally pathetic choice of subject matter.”

Alrighty then.

So, if I were to take a stab at poetastric verse, it might sound something like this …

There once was a milk cow named Sassy

who lived in a pasture that was really … grassy.

She was black-and-white spotted,

Her hair was a little knotted,

But her hormone/antibiotic/GMO-free milk … was classy.

gleaming_poetaster1

Photo by Keith Weller, USDA via Wikimedia Commons

Ugh.

Like fingernails on a chalkboard, right?

Positively poetastrical.

 

  1. Karlyne says:

    Except that it made me laugh!

  2. Rebecca Meyers says:

    There once was a poetaster
    Who wrote poetry faster
    than she could master
    the verses she wrote.

  3. wow the first ” continue reading” that I have had on your journal in about a month , so naturally I had to respond and let you know I am alive MaryJane !
    this poem sounds like what I wrote as a child thinking I was the next Emily Dickinson- uh yeah right. I did better with non rhyming poems though.
    Love anything about cows !

    • MaryJane says:

      Wonderful to have you back, Lisa. If the continue reading doesn’t work on Wednesday for you, shoot me an email. It may mean something given today’s older entry worked on your computer. We’ve missed your stories!!!!!

  4. Catherine says:

    I give this a double moo. Loved it.

  5. Krista says:

    This poem reminds me of something that little kids start out writing and I find it super cute! I love a poem about a super classy Sassy!

  6. patti baker says:

    There once was a poetaster. His writings were quite a disater. He tried really hard, but he was no bard and instead he became a wine taster.

    I just couldn’t help myself!

  7. Tracy Snyder says:

    There once was a donkey named Skipper
    No other was quite as hipper
    She loved candy canes, cookies and hugs
    And when she saw you wanted a good rub

    I think your poem is a lot better than mine! lol I must be a poetaster!

  8. Jane Boyte says:

    Pretty hard to do knots in hair so short! I guess you’d have to knot her lovely tail, or fail at the sport.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *