Friday, October 31, 2008

Poetry Friday

Today I bring you snippets from a poem written by Shakespeare Shapiro, the hilarious main character of

Spanking Shakespeare Jake Wizner

Milton himself was a mischievous louse
Whose favorite hobby was to egg Shakespeare's house.
And with whom did Milton engage in this fun?
Sometimes Ben Johnson, sometimes John Donne.

...

I don't know much philosophy, but I know that Descartes
Was renowned in his day for the way he could far.
But even Descartes was not nearly as smelly
As that malodorous scoundrel Percy Bysshe Shelley.


Maybe NOT the best way to woo your literary dream girl.

It's Senior Year. Shakespeare Shapiro has never had a girlfriend, has a best friend obsessed with bowel movements, and has to write a memoir for English class. Following him through the standard trials of trying to get the girl and the college, this is hilarious. Shakespeare's voice, both in his narration and in the bits of his memoir we see, never sees his own faults but will still make you laugh out loud.

This is one of those books where it's hard to write about how good it is, but seriously. Funny. Good funny. Read it now funny.

Poetry for Children has the roundup.

2 comments:

Sean said...

Lovely! Although I think there's a critical typo in your quote ...

Jennie said...

D'oh. I fixed it. Thanks for the heads up.