There were two elderly poets, both highly beloved and
regarded, who happened to die on the same day, and as luck would have it, they
both arrived at the Pearly Gates at the same time. St. Peter greeted them warmly, but then said “unfortunately I have some bad
news. Although you’re both highly
deserving, up here in heaven we work on a quota system, and at the moment we
only have room for one more poet. The
only fair thing to do is have a quick competition, but we don’t have much time,
so it has to be really quick. So here’s
the deal. I’m gonna give you a word, and
you’ll have 30 seconds to write a poem that features the word. Thirty seconds, that’s all. You okay with that?” And of course both poets agreed that would be
fine with them. So St. Peter said, “okay, here’s your word: Timbuktu.
Time starts now, GO!”
And both poets quickly thought and then scribbled their
poems down on a sheet of paper, and handed them to St. Peter. And St. Peter read the first one:
I see a ship out on
the blue,
It’s destination,
Timbuktu.
Not bad, said St.
Peter. But then it was time for the
second poet, and he was grinning ear to ear cause he was sure he had this thing
won. And St. Peter read:
Tim and I a-hiking
went
Saw three maidens in a
tent
They were three and we
were two
So I buck one and
Timbuktu.
And lo, with that Poet Number Two entered the kingdom of
heaven.
----------
* I don’t really know if it
actually is National Poetry Appreciation Day or not. If it is, I’m covered, and how fortuitous for
me. If it’s not, no harm done, eh?
No comments:
Post a Comment