The Monkey Bard
Listen to Carmen read her poem ...
A monkey sat down at the typing machine.
“Today is the day, you know what I mean!
I shall no longer scorn the call of my Art:
I’m gonna write Hamlet, just to show you I’m smart!
Though, frankly, to me it does seem a bit bleak,
Not quite the entertainment a monkey would seek.
And that much-lauded question… kind of dumb, don’t you think?
To be, not to be… waste of paper and ink!
Whatever, let’s start!” And it slowly typed HAM …
“Wait a second, erase that, fool that I am!
Writing Hamlet is easy, I should do something hard.
Or else, they will think that I’m aping the Bard!
I should choose an ambitious and creative endeavor.
Come on, I’m a monkey, we’re supposed to be clever!”
So it hit random keys, fingers nimble and deft,
Then, after a while, it typed “THE END” and left.
“Today is the day, you know what I mean!
I shall no longer scorn the call of my Art:
I’m gonna write Hamlet, just to show you I’m smart!
Though, frankly, to me it does seem a bit bleak,
Not quite the entertainment a monkey would seek.
And that much-lauded question… kind of dumb, don’t you think?
To be, not to be… waste of paper and ink!
Whatever, let’s start!” And it slowly typed HAM …
“Wait a second, erase that, fool that I am!
Writing Hamlet is easy, I should do something hard.
Or else, they will think that I’m aping the Bard!
I should choose an ambitious and creative endeavor.
Come on, I’m a monkey, we’re supposed to be clever!”
So it hit random keys, fingers nimble and deft,
Then, after a while, it typed “THE END” and left.
This poem is copyright (©) Carmen Tiderle 2024
About the Writer
Carmen Tiderle
Carmen is poet in chief at Funny Rhymes for Funky Times Inc., a copywriter and also Dora and Roman’s mother. She lives in Bucharest but she wrote her many poetry books for children (in Romanian) while travelling to the township of Joyville and the West Pole: Turvy-Topsy, funky rhymes for funny times (also in English), The Township of Joyville, West Pole Stories, The Great Outside, Who put pepper in the sea?, Selfie with the elves, The Glue Factory … poems translated by Victor Ghiga.
