Don Jack - III

Since adolescence, amour had perforce been
Jack's fate, if not in every way his plan:
A merry widow led him by the foreskin
to where a chaplain named them wife and man.
Luck smiled on him that time: she soon divorced him,
Took up with Bill O'Reilly, and began
A life of telegenic demagoguery.
And with his second chance, Jack turned to roguery.

Don Jack I and II

I

She wore a purple satin domino
   --She'd wrapped it round her tightly, like a shawl --
And crimson slippers, anything but common, though
   She scuffed them carelessly -- and that was all.
A breeze let just a glimpse of her abdomen show;
   He cast a sidelong glance. He was in thrall.
Around the capital, a throng in revelry;
Jack stood apart, his mind intent on devilry.


II




Her father planned to keep her chaste: he'd set
   A labyrinth of snares, locks bolted fast,
Stored crossbows, catapult and trebuchet,
   A crocodile-stocked moat. If any passed,
Defenestration from a parapet,
   Impressment, and two years before the mast.
Jack wove a rope with strands of llama's hair,
Attached a grappling hook: tonight he'd dare.

Just Like Starting Over

I've reconsidered the whole sonnet crown idea. Given that I'm irresistibly drawn toward turning everything into a narrative, a sonnet crown ain't the best form. So I'm going to take each one of these triads and build a narrative on them, using Byronic ottava rima. It's a more narrative form. And with Byron as my model, I'll be able to get away with outrageous rhymes.

               Bob Southey! You're a poet--Poet-laureate,
                 And representative of all the race;
               Although 'tis true that you turn'd out a Tory at
                 Last--yours has lately been a common case;

So here's the list of words that I've been saddled with by Facebook friends...or I thought they were friends. The first canto of "Don Jack" begins in my next post.



Capital, domino, long

Defenestration, Llama, Trebuchet

foreskin, Chaplain, demagogue

lipstick, ambulance, flour

Lexis, Foreclosure, Gout

Higs, cereal, bedspread

Ready, aim, file

Monkey. Pulchritude. Segway.

pterodactyl, wicker, metadata

Leonardesque, flamen, adumbration

 cupid, water, massage

Insects, musk, flag.

Albuminous, Recalcitrant, Plumply

tiddliwinks, tutelage, babble.

Asgaard, flea, traffic