November 2008

Volume LII Number 451

Quadrant magazine is the leading general intellectual journal of ideas, literature, poetry and historical and political debate published in Australia.

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Poetry

On the Road

John Whitworth

(Bing Crosby sang “Morocco Bound” in “The Road to Morocco”.)

 

We’re weirdy bards, we’re beardy bards, fine words are what we deal in.

When poetry is on the cards and poems softly stealing,

We winch them in with yards and yards of true poetic feeling.

We’re horrible and hairy but our principles are sound.

Like Webster’s Dictionary, we’re Morocco bound.

 

We strike a pose, we strike a match, we light a lyric light.

It’s like an itch you gotta scratch, you gotta get it right.

It’s like a train you gotta catch, you gotta catch tonight.

We might seem airy-fairy but our feet are on the ground.

Like Webster’s Dictionary, we’re Morocco bound.

 

Some bards are miserable as sin and some are happy hunks.

A few get rich as Rin Tin Tin but most stay poor as monks.

A few will die of heroin, a lot will live as drunks.

We’re seriously scary but we’re seminally sound.

Like Webster’s Dictionary, we’re Morocco bound.

 

Our Eastern star, our Shangri-La, will lift the poets’ curse,

Denominate the fat cigar and write the winning verse.

It takes us where the good times are, for better or for worse.

We found a dromedary and we paid a thousand pound.

Like Webster’s Dictionary, we’re Morocco bound.

 

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