Stuck Doing Chores on a Summer's Evening by Kelly Ramsdell Fineman - a National Poetry Month post
Here's the poem that has just been published in U.S. 1 Worksheets. As I mentioned in my last post, I had a good time at the launch party. As it is not a sonnet, it means you're in for yet another blog post from me today. Good lord.
Stuck Doing Chores on a Summer's Evening
with apologies to Robert Frost
Whose clothes these are, I think I know.
I gave them birth. I've watched them grow.
They leave their dirty laundry here
In heaps as deep as drifted snow.
Sometimes I use All, sometimes Cheer,
And if a stain proves too severe -
Some grape juice, or some chocolate cake -
I always keep stain treatments near.
I give the Spray & Wash a shake -
It's running out, and so I make
A mental note. The dryer's beep
Reminds me I don't get a break.
My family is counting sheep,
But I have washing in a heap
And piles to go before I sleep.
And piles to go before I sleep.
Form: The poem utilizes stanzas written in ruba'i, which are linked with their rhyme: AABA BBCB CCDC DDDD. The lines are all written in iambic tetrameter (four iambic feet per line: ta-DUM ta-DUM ta-DUM ta-DUM). It is, of course, a parody poem, based on Robert Frost's "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening", which I discussed at length in a prior post.
I will say that one of the things I'm most proud about in my poem is that I've not only followed the form, but also kept the exact rhyme scheme that Frost used for his poem, despite mine being about laundry, rather than meditation in the woods. Shelagh, one of the women who attended the reading in Mount Holly, opined that she thinks this poem belongs in everyone's laundry room. (Bless her.)
Stuck Doing Chores on a Summer's Evening
with apologies to Robert Frost
Whose clothes these are, I think I know.
I gave them birth. I've watched them grow.
They leave their dirty laundry here
In heaps as deep as drifted snow.
Sometimes I use All, sometimes Cheer,
And if a stain proves too severe -
Some grape juice, or some chocolate cake -
I always keep stain treatments near.
I give the Spray & Wash a shake -
It's running out, and so I make
A mental note. The dryer's beep
Reminds me I don't get a break.
My family is counting sheep,
But I have washing in a heap
And piles to go before I sleep.
And piles to go before I sleep.
Form: The poem utilizes stanzas written in ruba'i, which are linked with their rhyme: AABA BBCB CCDC DDDD. The lines are all written in iambic tetrameter (four iambic feet per line: ta-DUM ta-DUM ta-DUM ta-DUM). It is, of course, a parody poem, based on Robert Frost's "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening", which I discussed at length in a prior post.
I will say that one of the things I'm most proud about in my poem is that I've not only followed the form, but also kept the exact rhyme scheme that Frost used for his poem, despite mine being about laundry, rather than meditation in the woods. Shelagh, one of the women who attended the reading in Mount Holly, opined that she thinks this poem belongs in everyone's laundry room. (Bless her.)