Saucy Double Dactyls!
A Sharp Tongue in a Bite Size
What are Double Dactyls? Not dinosaurs or dragons. They’re 2 quatrains of rigid rules (which I sometimes bend), creating witty satirical poems :-) I made six of them for you hoping at least one of them amuses you. At the end of this article, I’ll explain those rules for the curious — or maybe the masochists. Definitely not required reading!
There's a Pill for That
Inagin Winagin
modernist medicine,
dancing through any pain
and so it goes…
all shapes and colors of
pharmacological
answers to everyone’s
ailments and woesSuffragettes, on Loop
Billybats Tatteredhats
diligent efforts at
breaking the ceilings of
marble and glass
rigidly calcified
antediluvian
thinking and attitudes
shove up your *ss!
The Victors' Spoils Witagun Overdun Satan’s new chosen one writing his memories in red brimstone History’s stories of megalomaniacs endlessly bashing to rule the whole globe
Conniving Bedfellows
Littlebit Snickerdick
power and politics
in the silk cheating bed
slamming the door
Promises, platitudes
verisimilitude
kissing the mirror and
plotting for more
Beautifixation
Biggery Jiggery
Barbie’s youth trickery
nipping and tucking to
make us look great
Perfect round derrièrs
homogeneity’s
fish lips and frozen brows
all Lago fakes
Up and Away
Starry-eyed Deified
plundered earth's treasures by
sucking her marrow for
personal gain
Spaceships, please take them to
extraterrestrial
places of wonder. Just
make it one-way.Rules for Double Dactyls
Now, to suck the joy out of the room, here are the rules for a Double Dactyl poem. I’ve seen a few variations, but the ones above are based on these rules. If you want to delve deeper and read some fine examples, Brief Poems is for you.
I wouldn’t recommend this as party conversation unless you are the solitary type who just wants to be left alone.
"Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honalee Little Jackie Paper loved that rascal Puff And brought him strings and sealing wax and other fancy stuff"