Saturday, November 16, 2019

The Non-Manichaean Dualities of an Office Stapler - poem

Lawrence Hall
mhall46184@aol.com
poeticdrivel.blogspot.com

The Non-Manichaean Dualities of an Office Stapler

A. Free Verse v. Structured Verse

1. Free Verse

                                  free verse
                                                                                                                oh, my

just sort of roams
                                 around the periphery of an office stapler to little purpose and without any regard to structure metre discipline or sometimes even an attempt to respect the reader and often reflecting the unhappy reality that the

                                                                  Writer

hasn’t progressed

                                                                                                               beyond OH, beyond!


something of Rod McKuen’s they he she Saw somewhere somehow

And like u no theres lots of pointless white space cause

                                                                                             She saw that somewhere o stapler

                                    ‘cause hes got to be free to embrace like stuff u no

2. Structured Verse

In structured verse even a stapler works
Within the freedom of a master plan
(Iambs, perhaps, though anapests are nice)
To dance the rhythms of the universe


B. Metaphorical Verse v. Concrete Verse

1. Metaphorical Verse

The office stapler sits and looks at us
In mechanical rebuke for our sins
This neo-Platonism of Machine -
It calls us from beyond its shadow-cave

2. Concrete Verse

A stapler fell into some wet concrete
And was never recovered. This has no meaning
Other than that someone must go to the store
And buy a new made-in-China stapler


C. First-Person v. Third-Person

1. First-Person Verse

I thus perceive my office stapler to be
An extension of MY wonderful ME!
This stapler is about me, me, oh, ME!
What I can be, it’s all about ME!

2. Third-Person Verse

An office stapler resides within the poem
Determined by the poet to do its part
In service to his disciplined art
And if the poet is not there to see -

The office stapler remains


L’Envoi

And then Santa Claus punched out Arius
But that’s a story for another day


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