I am writing a poem trying not to be clever.
Can I do it, maybe not, but never say never.
I will be parsimonious with multi-syllabic words
like nevertheless and whatsoever.
Also I will not use short single syllable words
like shit or turds, not because they are long
but because they are unambiguously impolite.
I want to abjure using rhyme for no reason,
and not play petty games with ‘flee’ and ‘flea’
or ‘see’ and ‘sea’ or ‘pea’ and ‘pee,’
or declare to the gas helium a warning alert,
‘You’re not only light, you’re innate-ly inert.’
I will refrain from changing ‘bee’ to ‘be’
to put the sting back into “To be or not to be,”
Hamlet’s conflicted Shakespearean question,
which sounds clumsy as hell but is actually
clear as the clarion call of a loudly rung bell.
‘Very clumsy’ instead of ‘clumsy as hell,’
would sound academic but not work as well.
I will eschew metaphors in spite of the fact
the moon in the sky is a lemon pie snack.
My hopes for this poem have been dashed all to pieces
the more I want simple the more simple decreases.