MARVELL GNOMES
A Pregunta in the Form of Six Tailgaters
Q: When Death shall snatch us from these kids
Will we be pestered by katydids?
A: Had we but world enough, and time,
You’d come up with a better rhyme.
Q: O who shall me deliver whole?
Must I remain here in this hole?
A: The weight of thine immortal shield
Requires that you remain here sealed.
Q: Grass withers; and the flowers too fade—
May neither stand against the spade?
A: Enough; and leave the rest to Fame!
I think all your repining’s lame.
By Lewis Turco / Wesli Court,
Copyright © 2013, all rights reserved by the author.
For information about both the pregunta and the tailgater, please see The Book of Forms: A Handbook of Poetics, Including Odd and Invented Forms, Revised and Expanded Edition by Lewis Putnam Turco, Hanover, NH: University Press of New England (www.UPNE.com) , 2012 • 384 pp. 3 illus. 5 x 7 1/2" Reference & Bibliography / Poetry 978-1-61168-035-5, paperback.