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Thursday, January 11, 2007

Thursday Cliches

I was thinking about the topic at Poetry Thursday this week, cliches, and I realised that the very first post I made on this blog was a poem which takes a cliche and pokes a little gentle fun at it. It also explains my blog title.

I was going to link to it, but I can't seem to figure out how to find a permalink for old posts (if anyone can tell me, feel free to leave a comment!)

So here it is again:

Portrait of the Poet as a Young Girl

She tried hard to be like the others
She struggled to catch a ball
She never quite managed a cartwheel
After much practice she stood on her head

When she grew up she turned to science
She thought she would turn the world upside down
After a while she realised
that the world had stayed in its proper place all along
and she was still standing on her head.

**************************

(And yes, I am being a little lazy about Poetry Thursday today, but I'm busy digging into my cupboards for fabrics and metallic threads and fabric paints and all sorts of other pretty things to take to the quilt symposium).

More Poetry Thursday here

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good one! The way things are happening in the world today, I just wonder if it's in it's proper place. :)

Mine is up too.

Rethabile said...

Go to your post, right click on the time you posted it (posted by Catherine @ 2:11 PM), copy the link, and that's the perma link.

Paste it between the inverted commas here:

Title of your link

And that's it.

Very cool poem.

Rethabile said...

Ooh, I messed that up, didn't I. Try again:

<a href="">Title of your link</a>

You paste what you copied between the inverted commas.

Anonymous said...

You can also go into your edit posts page and click view on any post, that will give you the link address that way as well.

I like the image of you on your head while the rest of the world goes on about it's business ignoring you.

Kay Cooke said...

I've only just now 'got' the title to your blog! I'm a little slow aren't I? The materials you are taking with you look scrummy! I love the orange and blue too. And the hens. Hope you have a wonderful time.

Crafty Green Poet said...

The first stanza sounds so like me when I was younger! Also I'd second ma's comment! Nice to know the origin of your blog name!

Anonymous said...

I can relate. Enjoyed knowing the origin of your blog name. :)
The title of your poem reminds of the James Joyce's book The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Smiled at your poem, also thinking of myself like another commenter.
Oh, and I've needed to re-post rather than use new work, even though I've only been involved with PT for about a month. Time crunches. Aren't archives great?

Norma said...

As a young girl I could do all those--especially standing on my head and outrunning the entrie class--but never got very good at science. A clever poem.

Love the fabric photo!

Thanks for stopping by for my Wakarusa Band poem.

Anonymous said...

Hey, I've always really liked you blog name, but this piece really adds something to it. Do you have an about page you could put it on? Love the time shift in it and the power and closure your last line adds. Really great.

Anonymous said...

Who’s to say that the girl is standing on her head! Indeed, it’s just a matter of perspective.

Unknown said...

This is great - I love the way the poem turns US on our heads...I feel like I've got a picture and you aren't sure which way to look at it so you keep spinning the paper and end up seeing so many different things...

Regina said...

I could manage a cartwheel but never stand on my head!
Wonderful poem!

Norma said...

I just figured out that comments are appearing on two posts at PT. There's the small group (about 16 right now) where we are, and the big one (about 63). I posted a 2nd time thinking something had happened.

Tammy Brierly said...

Now I get the blog name...wonderful! Enjoy the symposium :)

paris parfait said...

That's a sweet poem, Catherine! Enjoy the symposium!

Emily said...

Great poem...sweet and thoughtful.

kevin said...

the turn at the end is wonderful. I like the Joyce reference, as well.

liz elayne lamoreux said...

this one is delicious...
and now the name of your blog is all coming together for me.

Unknown said...

Very nice little poem. It is succinct and does the job in few words. Nice job.

Anonymous said...

Here from Micheles,
I loved your poem,
I did wonder about the blog name previously too!

Clockworkchris said...

What an ending. It all added up in the last line and made so much sense. This is the type of poem that inspires people.

twilightspider said...

This explains so much :) Wonderful.

Anonymous said...

Oh, so that's where the title of your blog comes from. I had wondered about that. Lovely poem. I think the world is sort of catawampus for me, or perhaps I am the one who is catawampus.