My friend Tom Laughlin (now “Will” for some reason) wrote this incredibly funny poem years ago. It’s a send-up of Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven, full of dizzying Sondheim-like internal rhymes. (Sibyl/Shibboleth, anyone?) I’d post the whole poem here, but my content column is too narrow to do it properly. So, take a look at the version on Tom’s web site, (which is primarily dedicated to his obsession with bad horror movies).
While you’re there, take a look at his Rhymes and Dances, a series of very short, very funny poems. (Follow the “Things That Rhyme” link on the home page). About 15 years ago, I did a choral setting of one of them, Ducks in the Garden.
By the way, for all these years, I thought that a grackle was something Tom made up. Turns out it’s an actual, real type of bird. Eh, what do you want from a city kid.
Categories:2 Responses to “The Grackle and other Poems”
A little follow-up to this: I just discovered that Tom (whom I will absolutely call “Will” from now on), has just launched a blog of his own. The inaugural post has finally set me straight on what’s going on with his name.
If anyone should be blogging, it’s Will. So, let’s see what he’s come up with:
[…] It looks like Will’s blog will be a mix of music-related items (he’s a composer and writer) with his own poetry, and, no doubt, tons of monster movie stuff. See also my earlier post about some of his poetry. […]
