Ahemm!

A poem about nothing for "The Most Challenging Poetry Contest Ever"

"Ahemm, Ahemm," you say to me,
then "No, that isn't it.
That's not to say...
I didn't mean...
Don't worry, not a whit!"

 

Then looking down, you say to me,
"Oh, that's not nice to say..."
And then to me
you give a wink.
What do you mean, I pray?!

 

But if you say some awful things,
Oh, I don't know just what.
They mean to me
about the same
as to a cashew nut!

 

"Ahemm, Ahemm," I hear you say,
and I just turn to leave.
"Oh give it up,"
I do reply,
"Your words I can't conceive!"

 

And if I wake tomorrow's morn,
and think of you quite hard,
I know I'll know,
oh, not one thing,
my mind a clean blank card.

 

And so in my conclusion, here,
I will say once again,
"You don't make sense,
I'm giving up,
your words mean naught, ahemm!"

 

 

 

 

©2008, Richard Puetter

Author's Note

A poem about "nothing" for a contest.

Reviews

[Wolfwind Words]

A full circle of "nothing" came through with funny whit and smooth flow.
A truly enjoyable piece to read, when the topic is quiet simply "Nothing."

I guess out of nothing we find laughter and a grin. So perhaps nothing is something after all!

Wonderful piece
A joy to read

Aaron Maycroft

[The Thracian]

I'll be back to add more later, but for now I've this to say. You've a perfect opportunity to use tabula rasa here which you don't, which in turn surprised me. I don't know if you know this, but back in the day, morrow meant morning time, hence names like morrow wind which meant morning wind. So in my mind, when you write tomorrow's morn, you're kind of being redundant. Also "give up it" threw me really off. I understand your inverting syntax, which works in your second part of the reply, but in the first it just sounds like one of those children puzzle fairy tales, kind of like mist if you know what I'm talking about. Also maybe try to use more succinct vocabulary without it appearing too much, you know? "Oh, I don't know just what," like this line - though you could argue that this is a blatant show of "nothing."

[holly]

Nicely written, Rick. Cleverly done "nothingness". You made me laugh!