The title of this poem is a take on the BBC Radio 4 programme, “Poetry Please”. Back in the day I was invited to read some of my “found” poems on its predecessor, Poetry Now. The programme was hosted by the Scottish poet George Macbeth (1932-1992) who has been described as, “one of the most gifted, inventive, moving and entertaining poets of our time.” I was privileged to meet him.
The first line of this poem is intended as a reference to the so-called Banksy of poetry, Brian Bilston, one of whose poems begins the words, “spare me”. If you have never read his work, I recommend it.
This poem of mine came about as the result of a recent poetry competition in my writers’ group. I am pleased to say it came second out of 22 entries!
I hope you enjoy reading it.
Poetry Pleas
Spare me please from poetry
From poems lovelier than a tree.
From poems with no rhyme or reason
Extolling autumn’s mellow season.
Spare me from poems that rhyme badly
And have to rhyme with words like sadly.
Or poems that do not scan
Of them I’m clearly absolutely definitely not the biggest fan.
Spare me from kids who rant and rage,
Who strut their stuff upon the stage,
Who’ve never read Auden, Byron or Brooke,
But have learnt all they know from off Facebook.
They swear and shout and cuss and curse
In the form of rhyming verse.
Spare me please from poets who
Write about going to the loo.
Poets who think they won’t be heard
Unless they shout out the F word.
Spare me from the English teachers
Whose poetry teaching always features
Learning every single line,
Which to me is waste of time.
Who really wants to learn by rote
All the sonnets that Shakespeare wrote?
Spare me please from the poetry cloners
And disinterested bookshop owners.
I do not want to follow the herd
And modern poetry’s quite absurd.
All lower case and alliteration
And don’t get me started on punctuation!
Spare me from words that are new to me
I have to look them up you see.
Spare me please from poets who shout,
Who bellow and yell and prance about.
A poem read in tranquillity
Is how a poem is meant to be.
A poem that soothes and strikes a chord
With empathy in every word.
A poem that helps us live this life
And cope with loss and love and strife.
© Andrea Neidle, My Life in Poems
My Life in Poems 
Excellent, I enjoyed reading this. Tessa
PS OH likes it too.
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‘And modern poetry’s quite absurd’ — ah, you don’t mean that — do you?
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Not all!
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Love your poem, Andrea. I agree with every word. Barbara. xx
Sent from my iPad
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