Dear Friends,

I'm so proud of this that I am posting it here as well as the monthly challenge place !

HAS IT COME TO THIS ?

An observer - with quick yet antique mind -
has said a vast and useless bust of stone
stands in the House. Of a similar kind,
power-drunk, his shattered visage born frown
and cynic’s lip, that sneer of low command
tell that God the sculptor those passions read
which yet survive : indecision, what's planned :
yea/nay for election, which biscuit fed ?
And on his pedestal these words appear
"I’m Gordon Brown, PM of all PMs:
look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!"
Nothing worthwhile remains. Round what’s condemned
of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
the lone and levelled lands stretch far away ....

Alan McAlpine Douglas
(with a little help from Percy Bysshe Shelley & Ozymandias)

Oh Alan - Why did I not realize before that we from the UK have our very own Ozymandiashttp://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250&pub=yenimedya? The wreck of our much despised PM,
Mr Gordon Brown.
An excellent satirical poem, and an exceptional answer to the Challenge.
Love, Leo

Dear Leo,

Thank you so much - this brilliant spoof of mine was beginning to feel very lonely and unappreciated !

Could you please explain this "bookmark" thingy you wrote about - on this one you are way ahead of me !

Love
Alan

Yes, Alan - this is certainly one of your better ones...but hey, you write so many good collective words!

I am most impressed and I agree that it needed two exhibits~

Bev

Dear Bev,

Thank you, but do I detect a tiny bit of michael-extraction ? Which I know, would be deserved !

We are encouraged in the challenge forums to post here for crit as well, and I rarely take advantage of that offer, he said, blushing all the way to the tips of his big toes ....

Love
Alan

Hi Alan - It was so good to see your answer to the X10 Challenge, in the, 'Poetry for Critique' section. I have been hoping to encourage a few more members of MM to have some fun, answering the various Challenges; playing with words - and maybe coming up with something good; just as you have with, 'Has it Come to This?

Re, this bookmark thingie. I was pretty sure that your pastiche was on,'Ozymandias' ; but my memory is not what it was - so I Googled to check on the spelling. I edited the bookmark out after I posted my comment - but it has re-appeared. Gremlins are such persistent little devils, aren't they? If you know how to cut it out, please do - or you could leave it, so that folk can take a look, and see how clever you have been to build your response to the challenge around it.
Love, Leo.

Dear Leo,

Thank you. I cannot access your post, but you can. At the bottom of the box is an EDIT button, then you should be able to highlight and delete. When I click on it, all I get is a long list of names, means nothing !

I did mention a thanks to Shelley, I should have added Ozy ....

Love
Alan

Dear Alan,
As I read this I felt a pang of questionable recognition and when I reached "Nothing Worthwhile Remains" I was positive you were papaing something I had read. Then your reference to Shelley cemented my thoughts and I broke out in goosebumps!
I've long wondered whether the poetry of the bards of yore is really as good as I believe it to be, or am I just consumed by an opinion I adopted back when I was just new at this hobby.
However, Somehow I find quality in Shelley's version and similar quality in your spoof of it.
I agree with Bev and I thank you for this as it truly has brightened my day!
Nicely done, Ron jgdittier

Dear Ron,

You are truly very kind. I do 2 kinds of spoof - poems I respect I might rewrite to point at present day shenanigans, and ones I don't like might be much more rudely treated.

For instance, I have spoofed "The road less travelled" 5 times (within a day or two), and I think my respect for it shows through all of them.

I have also spoofed "Trees" as keys, please, cheese, and a few others I cannot recall, but the tone is much sharper, and my lack of respect comes through.

There might be a third category - ones where some funny alteration occurs to me.

So yes, some of hte old poets certainly knew what they were doing. But the smae poets suffer from the fact that what they wrote could often be for declamation at soirees etc, where there was plenty of time to perform, so can be quite wordy, to, imo, their detriment.

Love
Alan

HI Alan love ur choice of words very expressive