the morality of pens: a sonnet
by strannikov
poets can kill, or at least they once could:
perhaps poems tamed us, if they are any good.
Villon a manslaughterer? oui, charitably:
a priest died at his hands amicably.
Marlowe, before he was stabbed in his eye,
defended himself with a blade, till Bradley died.
(Tom Watson, as skilled with a pen as with a sword,
nailed Bradley down, Kit escaped then, ungored.)
back in France, the career of Lacenaire
brought more mayhem than Lemaître's Robert Macaire.
Nerval hanged himself, Jarry neglected his health—
but two suicides in our commonwealth.
the moral of this tale, if one is to be found:
“words” and “sword” can blend in brains—well to leave one down.
—but since either one can threaten lethality,
both might be preferred to death from morality.
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Author's Note
We can thank Thomas Watson for my inability to count properly.
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"perhaps poems tamed us, if they are any good." Pretty to think so, but they didn't stop Trump from taking power.
This had me smiling. I like the romp through literary history and how it grows out of the proposal in S1. Enjoyed.*
Enjoyed to read. Lots to ponder in that last line. Morality being the wielder of both words and swords.
Love the first sentence!
The first poet I ever knew killed himself.
*****
Enjoyed! And YES to the last lines. *
"Nerval hanged himself, Jarry neglected his health—
but two suicides in our commonwealth."
Great couplet!
Nicely turned verse on a promising subject. Fold in Russian poets of the twenties and thirties, victims of garotte, pistol or knout and you might have the makings of an epic.
Almost excruciatingly clever! Really enjoyed your wordplay & carousel of characters.
Excellent. Love the last two lines. There's actually been quite a few poets in history who were arguable sociopaths, but it's my impression that this adds to their posthumous glamour so long as they haven't murdered anybody.