JOHNMICHAEL SIMON POETRY

Pantoums and pretty villanelles that went out with baroque

Today are back in vogue again and very highly prized

A passion for pure pattern marks return to classic form

It’s all so effortless and fun, I’m really quite surprised

 

These cookie cutter compositions now are back in vogue

An aid to creativity they’re very highly prized

Now any follower of vogue may call himself a poet

Dots on a die: you shake it round, then all you do is throw it

 

Rebelliousness is seldom prized by followers of form

Whose passion for convention is confined to throwing dice

My pantoums and my villanelles are patterned in this fashion

But like snowflakes they melt away, I’m really quite surprised

 

Despite their pretty symmetry my patterned pantoum poems

Aren’t usually sought after by most editors of verse

Who prize originality above all other fashions

Prefer graffiti, passions meaty, obscenities and worse   

 

Its really such a pity that my Villanelles don’t win

Some higher commendation by those editors of verse

Whose passion for graffiti I’m beginning to despise

Why don’t they like my patterned poems and give me a high prize?