This is a series I’ve invented where I come up with the crappy first drafts of popular poems by beloved poets. For reference, here is the original poem .
And below is my imagined rough draft.
T’was brilliant and the slimy fronds did spin and swirl amongst the grass, the stalks did twirl, enchanted wands, forbidding any man to pass. “Beware the Jaguar, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the birds of prey, and shun the beasts who seek a child to snatch!” He took his sharpened sword in hand; Long had he sought to slay this foe- He took a snooze by a clump of Yews then awoke, raring to go. And as in daunting thought he stood, the Jaguar with eyes of flame crept silently through darkened wood, And growled as it came! One, two! One, two! And through and through the stealthy blade went ‘Swish’ and ‘Crack’, He left it dead, and with its head, He went galloping back. “And have you slain the Jaguar? Come to my arms, my fearless boy! O fabulous day! Hoorah! Hooray! He chuckled in his joy. {Repeat first stanza here? End where you begin? It still needs…. something.}
this is the kind of inventiveness I like....I tried a piece a while back in a similar vein.
http://www.badgerscratch.com/2008/02/great-works-of-literature-repackaged-by.html
I so adore and admire this daring piece, Roxanne. Such panache.
Plus it strikes a pose and, for me, is very much in the spirit of this lil number
https://ghettomezzanine.substack.com/p/knock-turn