Slave, or: Master

Posted on by ben Alexander

My first Terza Rima

I'm well aware- I do not have a special way with words.
Rather, it seems, words often tend to have their way with me.
For instance, I've been crushed by a very large verb herd!

Ridiculous? I wonder too! Who on earth set them free?
Perhaps it was those rascally lowlife nouns once again.
They're always mocking, bullying me with such vicious glee!

Though cunning adjectives will wait until I lift my pen,
Their accomplice adverbs don't maintain similar patience,
Barely restraining themselves even to the count of ten!

I've cried when prepositions say I make no godly sense,
And directly, sometimes indirectly, articles are crass.
Clearly, they aim to wound me with their very worst offense.

Alas, these many parts of speech gang up on me en masse.
I still shudder to share the very worst of it with you-
Never will I forget the day that numeral grabbed my ass!

Interjections and determiners oft push their points of view;
In short, I have no say at all. They've got me quite subdued.

d’Verse is taking a break for the holidays so there won’t be any prompts for a while…

So I’ll be trying out a few new forms with prompts born of my mind instead!

I considered the idea of responding to prompts from other groups, but d’Verse satisfies my creative curiosity more than well enough – and I don’t want to spend all of my time responding to poetry prompts.

33 thoughts on “Slave, or: Master”

  3. This is so clever David!! I was chuckling and smiling through it. bravo 👏👏👏
    Loved how you opened with a hook right off the bat that was so good!
    I do not have a special way with words.
    Rather, it seems, words often tend to have their way with me.
    👍

  5. Indirectly crass articles, verb herds. I love it! As a full time teacher of college English as a Second Language, I appreciate anyone who can make humor out of linguistics. Cheers, David.

    1. Heheheh, thanks, George. In my imagination, language is more than just the sounds that come out of our mouths… I like playing at the intersection of “reality”, the way we humans perceive that, and the way we describe it.

      All best,
      David

  9. Brilliant write!!😂 Words are indeed such cunning entities, but we are ever so dependent upon them.
    Somehow, even though my grammar (usage) is reasonably good, I always struggle with learning all the rules and memorising the right terminologies. This poem is so very descriptive of that struggle!👏😂

  10. ABA BCB CDC DED
    Ah so that is a Terza Rima,
    And did she get a hold of you.
    Oh my soul, you poor poor victim
    But rest assured I won’t be the one rescuing you.
    You are doing just fine with your
    Terza Rima…..lol….you go girl, you got him by the verb, the noun, the adjective..ect….
    Prima ben
    You are a master and a skillfull victim.

  14. That’s wonderful mastery over your words David, you have made them play to your tune, or rhyme 👏 they couldn’t subdue or plot against you 😀

    Parts of speech has ganged up and troubled me from early school life, I thoroughly enjoyed how you orchestrated this act out of this gang of cunning Rascals 😀

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