[878] Frustration

Guest poem submitted by David Wright, <David.Wright@>, as part of our
ongoing theme, hate rhymes:

If I had a shiny gun,
I could have a world of fun
Speeding bullets through the brains
Of the folk who give me pains;

Or had I some poison gas,
I could make the moments pass
Bumping off a number of
People whom I do not love.

But I have no lethal weapon-
Thus does Fate our pleasure step on!
So they still are quick and well
Who should be, by rights, in hell.

	-- Dorothy Parker

This poem from Dorothy Parker is exactly the sort of thing we worry about
the kids reading. My open question is, what do we get from a poem like this,
what kind of pleasure does it give us? I'm not suggesting any answers. I'm
just curious to how we respond to such poems. The first time I read these
things I'm impressed with the vigor and force of the poet's wrath, and a bit
bemusedly shocked, and vicariously pleased.  The second and third readings
are somewhat more disturbing...

David.

[Minstrels Links]

Dorothy Parker:
Poem #150, Resume
Poem #192, Comment
Poem #486, Epitaph for a Darling Lady
Poem #560, Chant for Dark Hours
Poem #638, Song of Perfect Propriety
Poem #697, A Well Worn Story
Poem #878, Frustration

Hate Rhymes:
Poem #185, A Glass of Beer  -- David O'Bruadair
Poem #266, The Litany for Doneraile  -- Patrick O'Kelly
Poem #876, I Wish My Tongue were a Quiver -- Louis McKay
Poem #877, I Do Not Love Thee, Dr Fell -- Tom Brown
Poem #635, Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister -- Robert Browning

From: Kerri Clarke <kerri@>


David asks what kind of pleasure we derive from poems about hate, like this
one.  I think they put a voice and substance to that little ugly voice we
hear in our heads and hearts when we encounter people we really, really
don=B9t like.  Simply put, she unashamedly trumpets what we=B9re all afraid to
say out loud, or even think to ourselves.  Did I mention the word
Shadenfreude??

Kerri

From: Jessica Schnell <jks26@>

I think the poem is just humorous, personally I would never take it 
seriously enough to go around killing the people who annoy us to no end, 
and just reading something like that really does express our inner 
thoughts, as Kerri said.  I think in that way, it's similar to her other 
poems, #150 Resume and #1090 Unfortunate Coincidence.  I'm a newly 
converted fan of hers now!

From: Amit Batra <ab547@>

I would say that I tried not to take the poem seriously, tried to look at 
it as if a small little girl is saying it... but reading it again, it is 
infact quite violent... even though its funny and nice, think she's gone 
overboard, which she has all the rights to do anyways. So what is it that 
I am saying. Nothing.

Amit Batra

From: "Rebecca Gluski" <rebeccagluski@>

oh lord. Dorothy Parker was probably the most talented and notable woman
of the 20th century. Certainly she was a true talent, a celebrity with
both grace, wit, and a loose toungue quick to strike out at anything
that could ail her.She had the unique talent of making you both
sympathize with and dislike her at the same time. If this poem is being
read by your youngsters, then I eagerly applaud their progressive
reading abilities. But I shall not worry too much.  A child with enough
diminished intellectual capacity to become violent by reading something
would not be reading a poem by Ms. Parker anyway. That was a velied
insult at the way of thinking the first post set the tone with. I
believe the only way to raise a socially conscious and aware child is to
trust them with their own minds. And reading Dorothy Parker and
understanding her, before college is something I would be proud of in my
daughter.