Poem of the Day: “Monkeys with Typewriters” by Christopher Hivner

Songs of Eretz Poetry Review is pleased to present “Monkeys with Typewriters” by Christopher Hivner.  A brief biography of the poet may be found here: http://eretzsongs.blogspot.com/2015/12/poem-of-day-army-of-dreams-by.html.  

Monkeys with Typewriters

Christopher Hivner

My attempts to write

a love song to you

have ended in a

pile-up of distended words

with no life.

These derailed trains

of superannuated metaphors

lie at the bottom

of a canyon

burning out of control.

There will be no poem

detailing my affection for you

as I am incapable

of writing one

that doesn’t give me a headache.

The words I choose

mock me

with rolling eyes

and unintentional laughter,

turning my real emotion

into sardonic flotsam.

My profession of love

was to sound like Pablo Neruda,

but came out as a

Harlequin romance

generated by

monkeys with typewriters.

So the next time

we are together

I will give you a

wink and a nod,

a soft nudge in the side,

a raised eyebrow.

I will salute you

like the idiot I am

and you will know

you are loved.

Poet’s Notes: Pablo Neruda’s Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair is one of my favorite books, and Tonight I Can Write one of my favorite poems. During a writing session where I was experimenting with different styles I decided to try to write a love poem in the style of Neruda. For three days I tried. Every resulting piece was a disaster, which got trashed so I never had to look at it again. This led me to write “Monkeys with Typewriters” about my failed experiment.

Editor’s Note:  This one reminds me more of William Carlos Williams than Pablo Neruda, but it is good either way.  I particularly like the play on the word "salute" toward the end, though perhaps I just have a dirty mind.