"Your momma so fat, she travel the Noble Eightfold Path all at once!"
A Ridiculous Poem by One Michael J. Earnshaw
I wrote a ridiculous poem tonight. It basically came out of my realization that the phrase 'Rick Barry shot his free throws underhand' seemed to hold some deep philosophical or metaphysical truth. The more I repeated it to myself--"Rick Barry shot his free throws underhand," I'd say. "Rick Barry shot his free throws underhand. Rick Barry shot his free throws underhand."--the more it seemed to mean. This, I thought, is the perfect way to write a villanelle. The refrain is the most important part, and this is the perfect refrain.
Here then, is the result, downloadable as an MS Word document due to tricky formatting. If you don't know who Rick Barry is, or what a villanelle is, I suggest at least skimming the linked-to articles in order to glean some kind of background, although I admit that I don't really know anything about Rick Barry other than what I read on the internet and hear during discussions about his rat-faced sons Jon and Brent.
Next time: Maybe-They're-Significant Quotes Day! I know how you all love those!