I know, long title, right? I love a good spoof. I grew up on the musical parodies of Weird Al Yankovic, and at his best his twists on the popular songs, like Michael Jackson’s “Bad,” both honored and poked fun of the originals. Most artists it seems are happy to give him permission to use their music, knowing that once you’ve been spoofed by Weird Al, you have arrived.
Poem parodies can be a lot of fun too, and the best ones have the ability to stand on their own, sometimes perhaps wobbling on one leg, but still funny even if you don’t have prior knowledge of the poem being lampooned. This one, for instance, by a poet whose name I simply cannot recall at the moment:
Two paths diverged in a well known park,
One well lit, the other dark,
And since I did not wish to die
I took the one more traveled by.
I suppose you needn’t know anything about Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken,” but if you do the parody is that much more delightful, and yet not disrespectful of the original at all.
Tonight’s poetry reading is “Variations on a Theme by William Carlos Williams,” written by Kenneth Koch. It pokes fun of the poem by physician William Carlos Williams that we heard yesterday performed by Mr. Mathew MacFadyen. If you missed it, check it out first before listening to my goofy rendition of Koch’s piece, or simply look up the text to Williams’ poem “This is Just to Say.”
Variations on a Theme by William Carlos Williams
Kenneth Koch
1
I chopped down the house that you had been saving to live in next summer.
I am sorry, but it was morning, and I had nothing to do
and its wooden beams were so inviting.
2
We laughed at the hollyhocks together
and then I sprayed them with lye.
Forgive me. I simply do not know what I am doing.
3
I gave away the money that you had been saving to live on for the next ten years.
The man who asked for it was shabby
and the firm March wind on the porch was so juicy and cold.
4
Last evening we went dancing and I broke your leg.
Forgive me. I was clumsy and
I wanted you here in the wards, where I am the doctor!
Talk to me: