We’re now just six days away from the start of March Madness Poetry 2013!
Continuing my one-a-day posting of my Top Ten favorite poems from #MMPoetry 2012 … today we dive headfirst back into the silly pool with Stephen W. Cahill’s poem prompted by his 14-seed word “varnish” in the first round:
14-varnish
My Little Brother
by Stephen W. Cahill
My three year old brother is driving my mother
Completely clean out of her mind.
He dances on walls and repeatedly falls
And bumps on his little behind.
He woofs like a dog and he rolls like a hog
In all that he sees that is mucky.
And down by the lake, where resides an old drake,
He dives in declaring “Me ducky!”
So what does Mum do? She employs some voodoo,
(Which switches my tale to a fable)
By waving her palm with an “Alacazam!”
And now he’s a dining room table!
My brother’s so good, now he’s made out of wood,
However, there’s more I should say.
And that’s that I miss him.
And that’s why I kiss him and varnish his head every day.
This poem captured 71% of the vote in its matchup and helped Stephen reach the Elite Eight. Stephen, of course, did not stop there, as he went on to become the first ever #MMPoetry champion!
For those who missed it, I interviewed Stephen a few months ago about his experience and his writing. One of my favorite responses from him was his characterization of his own style as “sensible silliness” — that is, writing stories that “make logical sense –- as long as you take a ‘why not’ approach.” I think that you see that approach in full view in his My Little Brother poem above. I also love that he waited until the very last moment to use his prompt word, which tied together the entire poem in one dynamite punchline.
Click here to see this poem as it originally appeared in #MMPoetry 2012.
