David J Bauman

I was talking to a young writer and friend, Joshua James the other night and I told him that I was thinking of making a Dad Poet post but had no idea what might be blog-worthy. He instantly replied, “One of your own poems?” And this brought to mind the words of my youngest son, the Monkey, when he said, “Shouldn’t you be writing more poems? You know, the Poet part of Dad Poet?”

So, okay maybe I should post a few more, but right now I’m sifting through files to decide what might be worth sending out in my next few batches of poetry submissions to journals, e-zines and contests, and for most of those publications, if they see it here first, it’s considered “already published.” Ah, so nice to be up there with the New Yorker, eh? Ah well, the shape of the publishing world of the near future is still a little cloudy, and who knows what will happen.

So tonight I will share with you one that is not exactly new, but it’s one that I am not sending anywhere at present. I wasn’t sure at first if it was really a poem, but I suppose, along with some of my fortune cookie experiments, it falls under the heading of Found Poems. Here’s a good explanation of the form, and some excellent examples from the helpful folks at the Academy of American Poets.  You’ll recognize, depending on your linguistic origins and experience, most of these proverbs and clichés, I hope, and perhaps you’ll enjoy interchanging their parts as much as I did.

Better yet! Would you be willing to try something like this yourself and share it with us here in the comments? Whether written, recorded or both, I’d be honored and tickled to see what you came up with .

Proverbial Reconfiguration

A penny saved
	is worth two in the bush.

Curiosity killed
	the early bird.  

There's more than one way
	to fight fire with fire.

A watched pot 
	gathers no moss.

Too many cooks
	is the spice of life!

God helps those
	who wait for nobody.

Six of one,
	easy go. 

Every rose has its
	ways to skin a cat.

Home is where
	you keep your enemies closer.

All work and no play
	is a friend indeed.

An apple a day,
	but you can't make him drink!

Better safe than
	flock together.

Beer before liquor, 
	is thicker than water.

And early to bed,
	but for the grace of God go I.

Related articles

• “Get Up, Please” by David Kirby (poeticallyversed.com)
• what is a poem? (poemattic.wordpress.com)
• The Definition of Proverbial (english.answers.com)
• How NOT to write a poetry mash-up (tribrach.wordpress.com)
• An Ambiguous Poem (artistmickielynn.wordpress.com)