Rereading the Poem at Dawn
Long hours of midnight versing done
I rise elated, greet the sun
and turn my red-rimmed eyes to see
my pearl of perfect poetry.
Its tragic heart-felt imagery
has altered amphigorically.
In terms of style and allegory
the only “taste” is gustatory.
Once perfect lines with angst replete
now sprout two unexpected feet.
I prune the extra-footed mess
and find my scansion’s in dis-stress.
Ferreting out an infestation
of infantile alliteration
I stumble on syllabic fractals—
shameful, ill-wrought double dactyls.
The final aching denouement
now ends in boredom’s gaping jaw.
And couplets I thought so sublime,
reek of mariner—minus rime.
Whence thou, elusive epigram?
Calliope, your bitch I am.
Carrie L. Clickard is an internationally published author and poet. In addition to her award winning children’s books, Clickard’s poetry and short stories have appeared in numerous anthologies, journals and ezines including Myriad Lands, Defenestration, Havok, Andromeda Spaceways, Enchanted Conversations, Spellbound, and Underneath the Juniper Tree. For more information please visit www.clclickard.com.