Kvetch

Image courtesy of 3fatchicks

Kvetch

I never met a one like you

whose negativity shines through.

This poem’s the salute I sketch

for all you do.  You kvetch, kvetch, kvetch.

You criticize, I must confess.

No matter what, you must redress

your point (to death) in acid-etch.

Yes, all you do is kvetch, kvetch, kvetch.

The food’s too salty, sweet or cold.

If someone’s wronged, you’re wronged two-fold.

You sound like an ungrateful wretch

and all you do is kvetch, kvetch, kvetch.

And if you go to see a show,

you will complain, “It sucks, you know.

The acting’s bad.  The plot?  Farfetched.

And all you’ve done is kvetched, kvetched, kvetched.

You never compliment your host,

unless it’s qualified, at most.

You whine, you sulk, pretend to retch

and all you do is kvetch, kvetch, kvetch.

But can you take it?  No, you can’t.

Constructive words just make you rant.

You are the king of Kingdom Quetch*

‘cause all you do is kvetch, kvetch, kvetch.

I never met a one like you…

See, all you do is kvetch, kvetch, kvetch.

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Notes:  The inspiration for today's Kyrielle Sonnet (and then some) came from the prompt of 'complaining' - thoughtfully (and without any whining whatsoever) provided for by Daniel Ari on his Imunuri blog.  I just couldn't resist.  Wine and cheese, anyone?

Drive By

I don’t have to look

through the rear-view mirror to

know where my past is

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Notes: Magpie Tales posted the above photograph (Lee Friedlander, from America by Car) as this week's prompt.  What added to the idea of this particular poem was another prompt provided by Imunuri, who said to write about, "...a place you loved as a child."  

This does not look at all like the neighborhood where I grew up, (N.E. Philadelphia, in case you might be wondering) but I liked the idea of NOT looking in the rear-view mirror.  Why?  Because I'll always know where I came from anyway, and I like the idea of that memory.

The form, obviously, is 5/7/5 Haiku.

Speaking in Tongue Twisters = Lost in Translation

Graphic courtesy of A Pale Pink Proud Peacock

IMUNURI posted an interesting idea - Do something different...with your poetry that's unlike anything you'd normally do.  For reasons that I cannot entirely explain (other than the fact that this was - well, different), the idea of getting lost in translation came to mind.

So...I chose a poem I'd written last month which was more or less a Free Verse-ish sort of poem.  I chose that one because 1.) rhyme and metrics can really get messed up in a scary way when you use online translators such as BabelFish, which is what I used, and
2.) the thought of a tongue twister theme in another language seemed cool.  Here's what happened:

My original poem, as written in English:

Tongue Twister

I split a sheet…
Isn’t that how the tongue twister starts?
Then, you’re sup­posed to say some­thing
which sounds kind of like naughty words,
but in a way
isn’t
but which largely exists
just to embar­rass you.

From there, as translated into French:

Tornade de langue

J'ai dédoublé une feuille… N'est pas que comment la tornade de langue démarre ? Puis, vous êtes censé dire quelque chose qui ressemble un peu à des mots vilains, mais d'une certaine manière n'est pas mais qui existe en grande partie vous embarrasser juste.

Then, into Spanish:

Tornado de lengua

J' duplicaron una hoja… N' ¿no es que cómo el tornado de lengua empieza? Luego, es supuestos declaración algo que se asemeja un poco a palabras desagradables, pero d' una determinada manera n' no es pero que existe en gran parte desconcertarle exactamente.

And finally, back to English:

Tornado of J' language;

they duplicated a leaf… N' it is not that how the language tornado begins? Then, declaration is supposed something that resembles a little disagreeable words, but d' a certain way n' it is not but that exists to a large extent to disturb to him exactly.

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