Bacteria

Me: Was that poem any good or what?

Pliny the Elder: What?

Me: Was that poem ......? Oh.

Pliny the Elder: It has many faults. The reference to prawns in line one for example . One needs to have read the previous blog to understand it, and then, also the word order makes the meaning highly ambiguous. Furthermore the first verse gives the impression you were writing in prose and then realised you had a rhyme so you simply reformatted the lines.

Me: O Pliny, you are too perceptive.

Pliny the Elder: One cannot be too perceptive.

Me: What did you think of the second verse?

Pliny the Elder: I liked the ant running scared but could not approve of your rhyming bowl with bowl. That is not considered a proper rhyme in poetry. And I happen to know you squashed 3 ants that morning, not just 2.

Me: I was constrained by my 4 line stanzas. It takes at least 2 lines to kill an ant on location.

Pliny the Elder: Point taken. Poetic licence is allowable. But now to your final verse. Why did you run the lines on so? And your ending is extremely weak, not to mention that you omitted a final full stop.

Me: That was deliberate. I was cooking jam remember.

Pliny the Elder: Yes, but cooking jam is not indicated by leaving out a full stop.

Me: Alright, but didn't I save it by calling it the Poetry of Inattention?

Pliny the Elder: No. I really think you should have blogged about Bacteria as you intended.

Me: I know, I meant to, but Bacteria deserve more attention than I could give them cooking jam.

Pliny the Elder: That gives me little confidence in the safety of consuming it.