Zumwalt Poems Online

Posts tagged ‘tree poems’

Stop the chop, chop, chop.

We
see
a tree!  A tree!
Since it’s the last one living free
We will grab it quickly for our family.
A Tree!!!

Crop the lower middle to the
Top off!
Chop!!! Chop!!!
Don’t yet Stop!
Hear the Plop!
Chop! Chop!! Chop!!! Chop!!! Chop! Chop! Chop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

— Zumwalt (2011)

(see related poem https://zumpoems.com/2011/07/10/theyve-stripped-the-forest-for-babble/)

Zumwalt’s response to http://dversepoets.com/2011/11/17/form-for-all-beth-winter-hosts-staccato-form/#comment-5757  This is, in Zumwalt’s words, “a crime against this staccato form that pales in comparison to crimes against nature.”)

Admin Note: Zumwalt wrote this for another poetry blog’s prompt, and I posted it here the same day. This is a disarmingly simple yet effective eco poem that liberally employs rhymes, staccato rhythms and onomatopoeia to mock human greed and the destruction of the natural world. Note how the enjambment and overall use of rhythm emphasize the lack of constraint and discipline of those who think of nature’s bounty as items for personal decoration. Please note that the other poems created for this prompt are still accessible in the “Mister Linky” URL above. I encourage all to browse these other entries and also note how Zumwalt adheres to the rules of the prompt, while subverting their intent.

Note the shifts between rolling ternary and staccato binary groupings.

Note some of the rhythmic sculpting deployed as shown in this example: “We will grab it quickly for our family” (This rapid grouping mimics the hurried rush of grabbing the tree as well as creating a sense of displacement or disruption via displaced meter.)

Category:

2011, S, Zumwalt

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They’ve Stripped the Forest for Babble

They’ve Stripped the Forest for Babble 


Reams and reams
             The black-ink symbols innundate
             Flooding consciousness with printed words
                                          that possess
             Definitions but know no meaning
Tectonics, 
      Aardvarks, 
            political history of Byzantine hydraulics.
                        Dewey decimal has run rampant
                        Chasing, haunting, even lurking
                                  in the restroom
                        Parasitically clinging to the walls
 Stark and blatant waste or frivolous gaud
                        Venus dies --
                                   --                                          
                                   --    nonsensical nausea                       
                        The ice-age is returning

— Zumwalt (1974)

Category:

1970s, Editor's Choice, T, Zumwalt

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