Tuesday, 23 January 2007

And here's one I prepared earlier...

In the kingdom of the blind, do as the Romans:
Marry in haste, look after the pennies, feed a cold.
Every dog is in the eye of the beholder, and a bird
In the hand is soonest mended. The one-eyed

Man is king, but you can’t make him drink.
Half a loaf blows nobody any good, and every dog
Has two heads. The devil keeps the doctor away
And beauty makes work for idle hands.

When in Rome, it’s an ill wind makes most noise.
Clean meat is better than no bread, empty vessels
Spoil the broth, and blood never fattened a pig.
Every dog can lead a horse to water.

In the kingdom of the blind, too many cooks starve
A fever. An apple a day is worth two in the bush.
Every dog has a silver lining, every cloud
Is thicker than water, and beauty never falls far from the tree.

2 comments:

ken said...

is this a metered poem that concentrates on rhythm more tham content?

Ken

Martin said...

Ken - insofar as it's a poem at all (and not just an experiment) I'd say that the content is important - in the same way as the content in any 'nonsense verse' is important. Think Lewis Carroll's 'Hunting of the Snark' or 'Jabberwocky'.

Playing around with the order in which the 'perverbs' are arranged changes the 'sense' of the poem. Have a go.

It's not strictly 'metered' at all, though it more or less inherits the rhythm of the original proverbs.