Bones of a Dinosaur

Slightly satirical "poem"

During my digging seeking/searching for rhyme,

I stumbled upon bones buried some time

Moldering and dirty, spine all askew,

I thought very hard just what I should do

Discarded by most and left here to rot,

I pulled out my shovel and a dirt moving pot

Anthropology classes that I had taken in school,

Reminded me the need of brush and fine tool

Soil lifted away my heart started to surge,

Curiously watching a rectangular outline emerge

What strange creature this, something unique to discover,

When into my view came a dull leather cover

Mahogany hued with golden gilt letters,

Signatures within listed the names of my betters

The long list began alphabetically with Frost and with Poe,

And ended quite obviously with Shakespeare, Thoreau

The first worn page made all confusion abundantly clear,

A title was printed in bold for writers and poets to hear

The single word THESAURUS was centered in page,

And “unabridged” beneath, with italics its’ cage

Why is this buried? I asked of myself,

The answer to this was right there on a shelf

As I opened the pages of a popular mag,

The words I found there made my confidence lag

Words like “dunno” and “holla” and such,

Left me to feel this world was a little bit much

“Gansta” and “hoe” finally sealed my resolve,

To hide this treasure until species evolve

So if you enjoy Tyrannosaurs and the like,

And you aren’t afraid of a long, tiring hike

This secret location I’ll share with anyone new,

Just care for it, use it, and forever be true

The skeleton I found is hidden safe in a nook,

In your towns’ public library if you know where to look!

 

2016

Reviews

[jacob erin-cilberto]

for poets, language is the Holy Grail...unfortunately for many of my students, text messages are their living end...and unfortunately will be the end of language if they don't start reading more, writing properly and acquiring a taste for literature...all those famous names you mention..many would wonder who they are? part of a rock band? country and western stars?

rappers?

great poem.

you are so good with the rhyme...

[Scott Thompson]

I would be honored to have you ask the class to read it and provide a youths' perspective , I honestly fear for our love of the written word. Books in print will soon be all but extinct. I appreciate your valuable and well meaning assessment.

[Nirupama.H]

Haha, very interesting poem!
The way you chose to address the issue of language disintegration is unique!
I'm sure a lot more people would read this rather than a long essay overloaded with facts regarding the same issue.
Thank you for sharing this piece.

[Briana Noël Manzan..]

Haha, this was quite amusing. From the title and the first few lines I had no idea where this was going, and when I realized what this poem was about I chuckled. Very nice work, and you have a nice flow as well!

[Scott Thompson]

It was amusing to write... Glad you enjoyed it

[Nisreen]

I love this
Something about the ideas we left behind that held so much
Abandoning a beautiful past of true literature
To gain this unforeseen empty world
where words do not matter anymore
and life seems meek
our undivided attention seeks the knowledge of the ancient wisdom resembled in simple bones

Beautiful

[softlyfall]

I hear you.
I love language, love words, love them used wisely and well and with profound respect. The argot of our sick society is strangling our own language, slowly. Thus even makes heated expletives impotent, when the eff word is prosaic. We might as well evolve into a mute species and say nothing at all.
But no, there is you. There is me. There are several poets on here that are champions, advocates and defenders of the beauty in words.
I no longer have my first thesaurus but Oh how I adored it.

[Scott Thompson]

Unfortunately, mine is electronic but my dictionary is a different story...the old 5lb. Oxford unabridged dictionary left to me by my grandfather still smells of a printers press and musty paper...dreamy and sadly dated!....many thanks

[softlyfall]

Books are companions, speaking silently