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Monday, August 26, 2019

Songs for My Father or 37 Views, Via Shirlyrics, of Sev'ral Good Ships

The Shirlyric is a new poetic form consisting of quatrains with lines of 7 + 9 + 4 + 10 syllables, with the lines rhyming AABB. The first line of each quatrain is always a unique mutation of the opening line of the iconic Temple lyric "On the good ship Lollipop."

On the good ship Ali, Pop,
watch Muhammad: he's a spinning top.
Young Cassius Clay...
dances rope-a-dope in corps de ballet.

On the good ship Bali, Pop,
fans of wayang at Denpasar stop,
hear gong kebyar…
then head home to pawn their twelve-string guitar.

On the good ship Bialy, Pop,
it's a fast trip to the bagel shoppe.
Some lox, a smear...
then next door for kosher bottles of beer.

On the good ship Brolly, Pop,
you hear “…drip…drip…” but you feel no drop:
your bumbershoot...
keeps the moisture off your seersucker suit.

On the good ship Cali, Pop,
The cartel’s hip: you’re a narco cop!
You’d best behave...
lest you wind up in a Cristo Rey grave.

On the good ship Cholly, Pop,
Count Cassini pens his gossip slop.
Society...
doesn’t mind he holds no doct'ral degree.

On the good ship Collie, Pop,
Captain Lassie serves up mutton chop.
No dog food here:
Captain Lassie makes that doggedly clear.

On the good ship Colly, Pop,
sailor/colliers, each with pail and mop,
scrub clean each deck...
When all shine, tars get their traveler's check.
  
On the good ship Dali, Pop,
Sal paints pictures with a riding crop.
This Catalan...
is Surrealism's renaissance man.

On the good ship Denali, Pop,
politicians standing near the top
can see from there...
a Eurasian (not a Kodiak) bear.

On the good ship Dolly, Pop…

On the good ship Folly, Pop…

On the good ship Frawley, Pop,
Fred and Ethel (subs for mom and pop)
play Lucy’s chums.
Meanwhile, Desi beats his Babalu drums.

On the good ship Golly, Pop…

On the good ship Holly, Pop,
Audrey breakfasts at a jew’lry shop.
Capote knew...
how to tell ‘em long before he turn’d Tru.

On the good ship Jolly, Pop,
David's fed up with the party's top 
priorities...
like adherence to the Donald Trump sleaze.

On the good ship Kali, Pop…

On the good ship Lalli, Pop.
Was he real...? Or Finnish agitprop...?
He swung his axe...
and a bishop slew. (No legend. Just facts.)

On the good ship Lollipop,
it’s a sweet trip to the candy shop
where bon-bons play…
on the sunny beach of peppermint bay.

On the good ship Mali, Pop... 

On the good ship Mollie, Pop... 

On the good ship Molly, Pop…

On the good ship Natale, Pop...

On the good ship Ollie, Pop…

On the good ship Polly, Pop,
Captain Byrd heads to The Critter Shoppe,
to parrots sell.
(In the hold he harbors budgies as well.)

On the good ship Quali, Pop…

On the good ship Raleigh, Pop,
addicts harvest Big Tobacco’s crop.
Thick blacken’d tongues...
bloat as cancer eats through tummies and lungs.

On the good ship Roncalli, Papa...

On the good ship Solly, Pop…

On the good ship Squally, Pop... 

On the good ship Svengali, Pop,
feckless artists tend to come a-cropp-.
Headlong each falls,
and the depth he sinks to always appalls.

On the good ship Tamale, Pop…

On the good ship Thali, Pop…

On the good ship Trolley, Pop,
Judy whirls and twirls like a spinning top.
She sings a song...
about a cable car like nothing was wrong.

On the good ship Volley, Pop…

On the good ship Wall-E, Pop…

On the good ship Wally, Pop...

On the good ship “Y’all Leap!” Pop…

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