Florence Poets Society 2010 Fall Poetry Festival

It's been a week since the FloPoSo Annual Fall Poetry Festival and I have finally had time to blog about it. What can I say about five hours of poetry on a beautiful day in Look Park? I stayed awake the entire time?  No. Well, yes. I mean, I did. What I meant was, no, that's not nice to say. It was a beautiful day and there were many wonderful readers and some fascinating poetry. I must rave, though, about my poetry partner and I. We stole the show with our explosive poetry topic (a preview of which I gave in the last blog entry).  There were some who turned up their nose at our choice of topic, but we won them over in the end with our clever verse.  Due to copyright issues (and the fact that she is attempting to compile an entire book of her fart poems), I won't be including the poems read by Anita Gallers, my poet-in-crime on that day.

I started out with this one:

On Dad’s Passing

As kids, he led us to believe
he was above the rest.
    He always claimed he’d never.
He was a Renaissance Man, but nevertheless
    he was mortal.
As we grew, we experienced it in our lives;
    but still father stated he’d never.
Regardless of the euphemism,
    it’s not pleasant.
Something in the air
makes us aware of its reality.
    And still father vowed he’d never.
No age is immune: infants, children, teens, adults,
    and the elderly all pass.
And until then father hadn’t.
Now that Dad has passed, he seems
    more alive, more human.

He covered it up by saying,
“Well, even the Queen of England farted once!”

ltv
Anita read one and then I continued with "The Fart", which was included in the last blog post, as was "Belch, Before Loud Voice Resume". Anita and I continued switching off.  Here are the rest of the poems I read:


I Shot a Belch Into the Air
(with apologies to H.W. Longfellow)

I shot a belch into the air
It fell on ears, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it came out,
I could not see who was about
I then released another wind
A smell of eggs I’ll not rescind
For who can stop so keen and strong,
The body gases held so long?
Shortly afterward, in the garden
My belch was known, I gave my pardon
As for the other, I did pretend
It was not I, but the fart of a friend.

ltv


Thanksgiving Haiku

from the swollen depths
a cacophonous release
aahh, room for more pie

ltv


[untitled limerick]

a lady is one who won’t burp full
that push is no match for her pull
    a woman in contrast
    will let out a loud blast
and continue until she turns purple

ltv


As I said, a fun time was had by all. and I would like to thank Carl Russo and Tom Clark (and their long-suffering wives) for their hard work in putting this event together each year.