901

To the Moon
BY PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY

Art thou pale for weariness
Of climbing heaven and gazing on the earth,
Wandering companionless
Among the stars that have a different birth, --
And ever changing, like a joyless eye
That finds no object worth its constancy?

For the Poet

Is it me, or are you flashy,
Abject, knobbly jargonizing at oh! the slightest chance;
Brainwashing with words none comprehended (trashy!) --
Affected, yet savvy at first glance?
Soon phoning in another able message,
And cannot even rhyme the last lines.

902

[e e cummings' poem i carry your heart with me is anagrammed into another poem containing 20 people's names, products/brands, phrases, and movie/tv/song titles that are most often than not written in lower case]

i carry your heart with me


i carry your heart with me (i carry it in

my heart) i am never without it (anywhere

i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done

by only me is your doing,my darling)

i fear

no fate (for you are my fate,my sweet) i want

no world (for beautiful you are my world,my true)

and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant

and whatever a sun will always sing is you


here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows

higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart


i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

cause they fancy anything in lower case


they wear adidas (want facebook every day)

they hear your radio singers: a k.d. lang, will.i.am,

apl.de.ap, her it's a small world song anyway

(where are you, mc chris, a nerdcore

rhymer)?

they wish to view their dream hampton movies,

arthur of yesterday, your i am sam, your mother!

the hysteria for friends in thirtysomething

(they return the affection) they say i'm lovin' it.


they read a frau ruth weiss (a writer),

bell hooks (a feminist author);

need to wander around with your brian d foy,

throw in a note signed peace, ted by a killer,

sweat it out with your authority danah boyd.


we won't forget to honor you here (e e cummings)

903

KISS THE BRIDE
By
Elton John

Well she looked a peach in the dress she made
When she was still her mama's little girl
And when she walked down the aisle everybody smiled
At her innocence and curls
And when the preacher said is there anyone here
Got a reason why they shouldn't wed
I should have stuck up my hand
I should have got up to stand
And this is what I should have said

I wanna kiss the bride yeah!
I wanna kiss the bride yeah!
Long before she met him
She was mine, mine, mine
Don't say I do
Say bye, bye, bye
And let me kiss the bride yeah!
I wanna kiss the bride yeah!


Underneath her veil I could see a tear
Trickling down her pretty face
And when she slipped on the ring I knew everything
Would never be the same again
But if the groom would have known he'd have had a fit
About his wife and the things we did
And what I planned to say
Yeah on her wedding day
Well I thought it but I kept it hid

I wanna kiss the bride yeah!
I wanna kiss the bride yeah!
Long before she met him
She was mine, mine, mine
Don't say I do
Say bye, bye, bye
And let me kiss the bride yeah!
I wanna kiss the bride yeah!

THE ONE I WIN?
Ernest Anguish

Well she looked a dream in her dress of white
As she walked down the chapel aisle alone;
And when she smiled at Harry, who she was there to marry,
Deep inside I heaved a groan;
And when they tied the knot, my breakin' heart died,
And my runnin' tears were burnin' hot.
Gee, why did she pick him?
Ok, he's dashing and trim,
But I've, like, tons of love to give.

She shoulda been my bride, bah!
She shoulda been my bride, bah!
Shakira could've had me
But she played hard to get,
Now another girl has slipped the net.
She shoulda been my bride, bah!
She shoulda been my bride, bah!

As I watched her on TV smilin' with glee,
I knew she was thinkin' of me,
Indeed, I'd sent her a pic, showin' I am in fine nick,
(Despite the face and bony knees)
With three hundred winning anagrams that I'd devised,
Can he do this? (I don't think so!)
Hey, kitten, waddya say?
Shall we leave right away?
Sweetie baby please agree.

Just leave the guy behind, yeah?
And then you can be mine, yeah?
My wife insists that she
Doesn't mind a bit
So let's say 'bye
And ride with it!
Then I'll whisk you away, yes?
Then I'll whisk you away, yes!

904

[Sara Teasdale's idyllic May poem is anagrammed into a more urgent poem (and title) about nature - which also contains a couple of constraints, detailed below:]

May Day

A delicate fabric of bird song
Floats in the air,
The smell of wet wild earth
Is everywhere.

Red small leaves of the maple
Are clenched like a hand,
Like girls at their first communion
The pear trees stand.

Oh I must pass nothing by
Without loving it much,
The raindrop try with my lips,
The grass with my touch;

For how can I be sure
I shall see again
The world on the first of May
Shining after the rain?

Mayday

Seas terrify the humble shore
And icy storms affirm their might.
Volcanoes hit that isle once more.
Earth's shaking every other night.
Our top teams say we'll persevere
Until this hardship calmed a bit -
Real hogwash, if I'm honest here -
Still, any git might fall for it -
Or maybe we will bring that aid
Unto this world we liked for once.
Life isn't life when we're afraid.
Stand up and act upon this chance.



[Besides its title, the monospaced poem contains an S.O.S. in two other ways - one as an acrostic down its left-hand side and one in morse code (...---...) using the punctuation down its right-hand side:]


Mayday

Seas terrify the humble shore
And icy storms affirm their might.
Volcanoes hit that isle once more.
Earth's shaking every other night.
Our top teams say we'll persevere
Until this hardship calmed a bit -
Real hogwash, if I'm honest here -
Still, any git might fall for it -
Or maybe we will bring that aid
Unto this world we liked for once.
Life isn't life when we're afraid.
Stand up and act upon this chance.