Sonnet with A Different Letter ...*
Starbuck, George (1931-)
O for a muse of fire, a sack of dough, Or both! O promissory notes of woe! One time in Santa Fe N.M. Ol' Winfield Townley Scott and I ... But whoa. One can exert oneself, ff , Or architect a heaven like Rimbaud, Or if that seems, how shall I say, de trop , One can at least write sonnets, a propos Of nothing save the do-re-mi-fa-sol Of poetry itself. Is not the row Of perfect rhymes, the terminal bon mot, Obeisance enough to the Great O? "Observe," said Chairman Mao to Premier Chou, "On voyage ˆ Parnasse pour prendre les eaux. On voyage comme poisson, incog."
The Oxford Book of American Light Verse (Harmon)
ff: fortissimo
de trop: too much
bon mot: clever saying
French sentences:
they travel to Paranssus to take the waters,
they travel as fish