Deep in the briny sea
Was a monk fish monastery,
A prayerful variety
Of contemplative piety
From gentle soles to trout,
All swimmingly devout,
Where once a pious oyster
Went strolling round the cloister,
And he was quietly grumbling;
His tummy it was rumbling.
He spied a tasty morsel,
A fellow shark monk’s dorsal.
He lopped it with his chopper,
And hid it good and proper.
He’d eat it some time later
With peas and beans and ‘tater.
There’s no way he would share it,
His stomach wouldn’t bear it.
Meanwhile the poor old shark monk
Swims round and round like he’s quite drunk.
To swim quite straight he needs all fins,
He twists and swerves, he dives and spins
Into a crazy cork screw loop;
His fin must be saved from the soup.
The other monks are looking,
At what the oyster’s cooking.
They see he has the shark fin;
They can’t allow this shell fish sin
And since he is a sinner,
They confiscate his dinner,
And sew in back on shark monk’s back
So he can get himself on track.
The oyster now is pleading;
Forgiveness he is needing.
He’s being quite rambunctious,
He’s big and plump and scrumptious,
And so the monks decide his fate
Is to be served up on a plate.
So now they all are wine-ing,
They’re dancing and they’re dining,
In their monastic cellar
On oyster Rockefeller.
© D.N. O’Brien, 2012
How unique, Dennis! I can’t help wondering how long it took you to come up with exactly the right imagery and rhymes to do a poem this long on such a theme? I also can’t help wondering how you happened to come up with this idea.
Really cute.
Well to be honest Sandra I don’t put a lot of thought into it. The idea pops into my head and then I write the poem in usually a fairly short time, and then put it away and come back later to extend it or shorten it and generally tidy it up. I think the process is probably different for everyone to some extent. The poems aren’t usually a problem, I just hope the ideas keep coming. (I think it’s called inspiration) 😉
I understand. It’s about the same with me. I can’t say that mine take a lot of laborious thought or work on my part. (Which, of course, means I don’t get much of the credit either, I guess.) But this particular poem seemed to have so much imagery that fit so well, I thought perhaps you had put extra effort into it. The idea of this basically religious theme being carried out in an undersea fish world is definitely the work of a highly developed imagination. Of course, perhaps the fact that I’m an ordained minister helps me appreciate it so much, but I do like it.
By the way, I don’t know if we get a notification when someone else shares our stuff on Facebook or Twitter, etc. But just in case you don’t get one, I’ll let you know that I shared this on my Facebook page. Can’t wait to see what response it gets.
Thanks Sandra.
Just fabulous!!
And it brought a big smile too:):)
Christine
Glad I made you smile Christine. 🙂
Love it Dennis! Great imagery in this original poem. It’s nice to read a light-hearted poem once in a while. An enjoyable read indeed 🙂
Light hearted? How about the thievery, violence, grievous bodily harm, murder and finally cannibalism Norma? Glad you liked it 😉
Lol 🙂
Good job & very entertaining piece…
Thanks Lindy Lee
Enjoyed it – amazing how you came up with all the fishy rhymes! 🙂
When writing poems about whales
My rhyming pales and sometimes fails
But when I’m telling fishy tales (or tails)
My rhymes they say are off the scales.
(actually I have a poem about whales coming up)
Thanks Betty 😉
This was too good for a magnificent flight with imagination of your creation!!
I am following your blog! 🙂
*cheers*
-Astha
Thanks Astha.
Magnificent! Dennis ala Lewis Carroll’s poetry, and delightful from first rhyme and image to the last. LOL, hooray! May oyster Rockerfeller pay back the stealing of the monk shark’s fin by committing sin to counter sin. Ain’t it the truth of human beings, brother? Ain’t it the ever loving truth! Whoop de dooo! This is a poem!
Thanks Thomas, I suppose it fits the “nonsense poem” category but as you say may have a few basic truths to tell. 🙂