Her First Poem
—for Kristin
When she was 10
her teacher
made the class write poems.
Poems of any length, but they had to rhyme.
(Which inspired me to deliver a speech on the virtues
of free verse, internal and slant rhymes, alliteration, etc.)
But our daughter was an angel—a rule follower—
albeit a procrastinator and a practitioner
of brevity regarding homework.
Her 2-line poem, I thought,
was clever:
“Life is so ironic
I need a gin and tonic.”
A small masterpiece, I judged.
Her teacher was not amused—
and that’s when…
(in iambic pentameter)
I HEAR THE HOUNDS OF HELL HOWLING MY NAME!
Tom Snyder: Collected Poems 