I am, of course, the third-last person on the entire planet to listen to This American Life, the US public radio program presented by Ira Glass. But now I have. And in doing so, I stumbled across some amusing poetry.
The poems are based on an original by William Carlos Williams, called This Is Just To Say. In an episode of This American Life entitled Mistakes Were Made, program contributors created their own versions.
My favourite is the trio by Shalom Auslander:
1
I’m sorry you’re overweight
And drinking
And feeling like everything
In your life
Is doomed to failure
But this is probably why
Mom said
I was her favorite2
It sucks, little doe
That I hit you
with my carBut at least
You weren’t alive
To watch the hunters
Shoot your children3
He was a troublemaker, okay
And didn’t know when
To shut upStill
We never would have killed him
If we’d known he was the Lord
There’s not much poetry here. Should there be more?