So, you're sitting comfortably here at the PC <br />with a few precious minutes to spare - <br />escaping the family, <br />or waiting for a message at work, <br />or the boss isn't around; <br /> <br />you're a poet, <br />you need to keep in practice. <br />Now's the time to knock off a haiku <br />that will knock the Japs off their cherry trees into the snow, <br />maybe a limerick to throw those <br />silver-tongued Irish into the murky <br />black-and-tan Guinnessy Liffey out of sheer envy, <br />slag off a rival poet (poet!) on the Forum, <br />generally feel that life's for living, <br /> <br />but no - there's that damn 'quick quiz' <br />lurking with a wink on the Home Page - <br />wouldn't you think management could spare the time <br />to fix the spelling of dropp and delet, instead <br />of wasting our precious creative powers <br />on that damn quiz? <br /> <br />I mean, there can't be many people in the world <br />sailing the 'largest inland stretch of water' right now, <br />do they care that it's - no, I'm not going <br />to tell you - water's just water when you're on it <br /> <br />and you'd be pretty silly to set off <br />in your hired ice-breaker for a jolly weekend <br />in northern Canadian waters <br />without knowing which is the northernmost island - <br />oh silly me - we should have turned right at Baffin Bay... <br /> <br />and either you've read Balzac, Bronte, or that comic strip <br />the rest of the world never heard of - or you haven't - <br />and anyway, you've only got to do the damn thing <br />four times for each question you don't know... <br /> <br />and - oh just a minute - gotta check the stats... <br />as if I cared that Reece Kay got it all right <br />in only 12 attempts, I don't know him <br />but I hate him already... <br /> <br />Bukowski never had this problem<br /><br />Michael Shepherd<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/0011-contragulations-to-poemhunter-s-damnable-mini-quiz/
