Nonsense Song

Karl Elder writes very nicely about this poem. You can read his comments in full at the site. He remembers this poem being recited to him by his father when he was a child. He hadn't seen it in print, but recalled some of it by heart and was able to find it quickly via google. He astutely observes that this "nonsense" poem makes more sense than a lot of today's popular poetry. It has become in vogue to string words together in random ways.

He doesn't say it, but I'll add that the Best Poetry of 2004 anthology seems to favor these kind of poems. A poet that I met a couple of years ago made it into this collection. She has written many amazing poems, but the one that made the book is her most cryptic work.

Anyway, this may not be the greatest poem ever written but I was happy to get it emailed to me and thought it might be accessible and enjoyable for even the poetry phobic amoungst us.


From www.poems.com

KARL ELDER'S POETRY MONTH PICK, 4/1/05"Nonsense Song" by Anonymous


"Nonsense Song" by Anonymous

It was midnight on the ocean;
Not a street car was in sight.
The sun was shining brightly,
And it rained all day that night.

'Twas a summer's night in winter
And the rain was snowing fast.
A barefoot boy with shoes on
Stood sitting on the grass.

The rain was pouring down,
The moon was shining bright,
And everything that you could see
Was hidden out of sight.

It was evening and the rising sun
Was setting in the West.
The little fishes in the trees
huddled in their nest.

While the organ peeled potatoes,
Lard was rendered by the choir.
While the sexton rang the dish rag,
Someone set the church on fire.

"Holy Smoke," the preacher shouted,
And in the rush he lost his hair.
Now his head resembles heaven,
For there is no parting there.

I saw a great, big, tiny house
Ten thousand miles away.
to my view 'twas out of sight
Last night, the other day.

The walls projected inward,
The front door round the back.
Alone it stood between two more.
The walls were whitewashed black.