New contender for world's worst poem | News | Guardian Unlimited Books: "William McGonagall is under the direst threat today in his apparently unassailable position as author of the world's worst poem.
The 19th century Scots bard's notorious lament for The Tay Bridge Disaster: "And the cry rang out all o'er the town, Good Heavens! the Tay Bridge is blown down" has been challenged in favour of a single appalling last line by a more exotic British versifier, Theophile Jules-Henri Marzials: 'Drop / Dead. / Plop, flop. / Plop'."
11 comments:
I'm reminded of the Alka-Seltzer jingle, which is an even worse poem taken that way, but I suppose what's [not] wanted is non-lyrics (in the song lyric sense) that are seriously intended. Really, though, Rod McKuen did worse than this. Jimmy Stewart, too (well, there's the Seriously Intended proviso again, perhaps).
What about Leonard Nimoy?
I've actually been exposed to Stewart doggerel; I don't believe I've bothered to seek out Nimoy's, since I've not in living memory stumbled across it.
No doubt that's a good thing.
I went to the site and read the whole poem. Or verse thing. Or assemblage. It really is unintentionally brilliantly horrible. I'm even using capital letters and penning complete sentences, I'm so rattled.
I should have gotten some of my students to read that poem during my teaching days. Maybe it would have solved all their problems.
My wife has actually come to the defense of this piece of algae ichor. She says, in effect, "You know?...when a barge is resting on the water and the mild rhythm of the waves run beneath it, that's what you hear, a constant, inconsequential plop at random intervals, which is what the life of the suicide victim is going to become, merely a dull, boring, uninteresting sound when the ripple from his spreadiing wave of impact of his now sinking body makes its way to the old, unmoving barge. It's almost a precursor to beat poetry. There could be innovative genius here." She can't be right, can she? Tell me she can't be right.
Hey, the genius is all hers. You should be proud.
Contradict your wife? I'm not that crazy.
Cecily wishes to clarify: "I never said it was GOOD. I just said it MIGHT be ahead of its time." So it's a bad poem ahead of its time. Which to me makes it even worse than I originally thought it was. I think I'm gaining ground here.
As far as bad poetry goes, you can't beat Emily Disckenson's
"God gave a loaf to every Bird
But just a crumb to me..."
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