• Submit Poetry
  • Support SCP
  • About Us
  • Members
  • Join
Saturday, July 18, 2026
Society of Classical Poets
  • Poems
    • Beauty
    • Culture
    • Satire
    • Humor
    • Children’s
    • Art
    • Ekphrastic
    • Epic
    • Epigrams and Proverbs
    • Human Rights in China
    • Music
    • Performing Arts
    • Riddles
    • Science
    • Song Lyrics
    • The Environment
    • The Raven
    • Found Poems
    • High School Poets
    • Terrorism
    • Covid-19
  • Poetry Forms
    • Sonnet
    • Haiku
    • Limerick
    • Villanelle
    • Rondeau
    • Pantoum
    • Sestina
    • Triolet
    • Acrostic
    • Alexandroid
    • Alliterative
    • Blank Verse
    • Chant Royal
    • Clerihew
    • Rhupunt
    • Rondeau Redoublé
    • Rondel
    • Rubaiyat
    • Sapphic Verse
    • Shape Poems
    • Terza Rima
  • Great Poets
    • Geoffrey Chaucer
    • Emily Dickinson
    • Homer
    • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
    • Dante Alighieri
    • John Keats
    • John Milton
    • Edgar Allan Poe
    • William Shakespeare
    • William Wordsworth
    • William Blake
    • Robert Frost
  • Love Poems
  • Contests
  • SCP Academy
    • Educational
    • Teaching Classical Poetry—A Guide for Educators
    • Poetry Forms
    • The SCP Journal
    • Books
No Result
View All Result
Society of Classical Poets
  • Poems
    • Beauty
    • Culture
    • Satire
    • Humor
    • Children’s
    • Art
    • Ekphrastic
    • Epic
    • Epigrams and Proverbs
    • Human Rights in China
    • Music
    • Performing Arts
    • Riddles
    • Science
    • Song Lyrics
    • The Environment
    • The Raven
    • Found Poems
    • High School Poets
    • Terrorism
    • Covid-19
  • Poetry Forms
    • Sonnet
    • Haiku
    • Limerick
    • Villanelle
    • Rondeau
    • Pantoum
    • Sestina
    • Triolet
    • Acrostic
    • Alexandroid
    • Alliterative
    • Blank Verse
    • Chant Royal
    • Clerihew
    • Rhupunt
    • Rondeau Redoublé
    • Rondel
    • Rubaiyat
    • Sapphic Verse
    • Shape Poems
    • Terza Rima
  • Great Poets
    • Geoffrey Chaucer
    • Emily Dickinson
    • Homer
    • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
    • Dante Alighieri
    • John Keats
    • John Milton
    • Edgar Allan Poe
    • William Shakespeare
    • William Wordsworth
    • William Blake
    • Robert Frost
  • Love Poems
  • Contests
  • SCP Academy
    • Educational
    • Teaching Classical Poetry—A Guide for Educators
    • Poetry Forms
    • The SCP Journal
    • Books
No Result
View All Result
Society of Classical Poets
No Result
View All Result
Home Poetry Humor

‘Dihydrogen Monoxide’ by Andrew Joseph

February 16, 2015
in Humor, Poetry
A A
3
poems 'Dihydrogen Monoxide' by Andrew Joseph

A mysterious substance is ruling our lives.
It flows through our oceans and floats in our skies.
“It’s good for you,” cries four docs out of five.
It will keep your skin young for the rest of your life.
It will grow your corn tall and make your kids bright.
It will keep your drinks cold and improve your sight.
Believe me my friends, don’t be fooled by the hype.
There is something about this that does not seem right.
Why would the great praises of this stuff be sung?
When you breathe in too much, it can swell in your lungs.
When frozen it’s deadly, an Antarctic knife.
When used in some torture, they beg for their life.
So my dear friends I beg you, don’t fall for their ruse
and as for myself I don’t have to choose.
For I shall not be a mere sheep led to slaughter
Because I always prefer my whiskey to water.

 

Andrew Joseph is an aspiring writer and poet from Lima, Ohio. He does his best to squeeze in writing between working full time, and being a full time husband to his wife Julie and full time father to his 4 children.

Featured Image: “An Experiment on a Bird in an Air Pump” by Joseph Wright of Derby, 1768.

ShareTweetPin
The Society of Classical Poets does not endorse any views expressed in individual poems or commentary.
Read Our Comments Policy Here

RandomPoems

‘Chaos Abounds’ and Other Poetry by Randal A. Burd, Jr.
Culture

‘Chaos Abounds’ and Other Poetry by Randal A. Burd, Jr.

May 27, 2021

. Chaos Abounds What thoughts are left unthought? What is profound? Does any quest of value still remain? So much...

‘My Last Delivery as Attending Physician’ and Other Poetry by Duane Caylor
Poetry

‘My Last Delivery as Attending Physician’ and Other Poetry by Duane Caylor

November 27, 2023

. My Last Delivery as Attending Physician adapting a line from Carl Sandburg Although she’s labored for eleven hours, determination...

Next Post
‘Monarch’ by Shari Jo LeKane-Yentumi

'Monarch' by Shari Jo LeKane-Yentumi

‘Sonnet on the Death of a Friend’ and Other Poetry by Pete Dashwood

'Sonnet on the Death of a Friend' and Other Poetry by Pete Dashwood

‘O Thou Fount of Joy, I Praise Thee’ and Other Poetry by Scáth Beorh

'O Thou Fount of Joy, I Praise Thee' and Other Poetry by Scáth Beorh

Comments 3

  1. Jeri says:
    11 years ago

    Cute and funny! Thanks for posting!

    Reply
  2. Gloria says:
    11 years ago

    A hilarious extended metaphor!

    Reply
  3. Martin Elster says:
    11 years ago

    Hi Andrew,

    This is an entertainingly droll poem! I love the jaunty anapestic meter. I found the last line a bit bumpy, though. Have you considered starting the line with “’cause” instead of “because”? Then you would have a nice anapestic pick-up:

    ’Cause I always prefer my whiskey to water.

    In any event, the last line is inspired. A fun poem!

    The title immediately attracted me, not just because of the dihydrogen monoxide hoax,
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dihydrogen_monoxide_hoax
    but also because I, too, once wrote a poem with that title:
    http://newversenews.blogspot.com/2014/09/dihydrogen-monoxide.html

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  1. Cynthia L Erlandson on ‘The Gold Star Mother’: A Poem by Gerard MaritatoJuly 18, 2026

    I don't know how anyone could read this without tears. It's just beautiful.

  2. Susan Jarvis Bryant on ‘My Pyjamas!’ and Other Poems by Susan Jarvis BryantJuly 18, 2026

    C.B., please know that laughter is beneficial to one's health and temper. Suing me will undoubtedly cause you immense stress,…

  3. Jan Mennite on National Poetry Month Limerick ChallengeJuly 18, 2026

    Cass There once was a teacher named Cass who expelled much malodorous gas. One day after starting, she couldn't stop…

  4. Susan Jarvis Bryant on ‘My Pyjamas!’ and Other Poems by Susan Jarvis BryantJuly 18, 2026

    Adam, thank you very much for your appreciative and encouraging words. I hope your children enjoyed "My Pyjamas." I believe…

  5. Theresa Werba on ‘American Dreams’: A Poem by Adam SediaJuly 18, 2026

    Congrats on your Finalist win Adam, such an excellently-wrought and powerful poem!

Subscribe to Daily Poems

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 1,594 other subscribers

Recent Poems

  • Winners and Rankings of The Great American Poetry Competition
  • ‘The Gold Star Mother’: A Poem by Gerard Maritato
  • ‘An American Dash’: A Poem by Linda Ellis
  • ‘The Anonymous Soldier’: A Poem by Lucy Lind
  • ‘For Those We Never Meet’: A Poem by Aneesh Agarwal
  • ‘Ben Franklin’s Copper Fugio Cent’: A Poem by Geoffrey Smagacz
  • Three Brief Poems by Luxorius, Translated by Joseph S. Salemi
  • ‘The American Spirit’: A Poem by Dusty Grein
  • ‘The Ballad of Zebulon Pike’: A Poem by M.D. Skeen
  • ‘We Are the Ones’ and Other Poetry by Cheryl Corey
  • ‘My Pyjamas!’ and Other Poems by Susan Jarvis Bryant
  • ‘A Snowy Egret’: A Poem by Bruce Dale Wise
  • ‘The Swearing-in of Calvin Coolidge’: A Sonnet by Robert W. Crawford
  • ‘Ballad of the Sequoia’: A Poem by Lauren V. Leon
  • ‘The 51st State’: A Poem by James Sale
  • ‘La Uva’ (The Grape): A Poem by Michael Pietrack
  • ‘There’s Blood that Flows Within the Stripes’: A Poem by Lauren V. Leon
  • ‘Birdsong’: A Poem by Jeffrey Essmann
  • ‘The Melody That Lingers On’ and Other Poetry by John McPherson
  • ‘American Dreams’: A Poem by Adam Sedia
  • ‘An American Fabius’: A Poem by John Hernandez
  • ‘Vernal Clinic’ and Other Poetry by C.B. Anderson
  • ‘Omaha Beach’ and Other Poetry by Bradford Skow
  • ‘Music to Part the Veil’: A Poem by T.M. Moore
  • ‘A Gentleman’s Guide to Losing a War’ and Other Poetry by Arnon Peterson
  • ‘Black Shuck’: A Poem by Martin Briggs
  • ‘When the Last World War II Veteran Passes Away’: A Poem by N.S. Boone
  • ‘A Fallow Year at Worthy Farm’: A Poem by Paul A. Freeman
  • ‘Outstanding in Afghanistan’: A Poem by Jared S. Chang
  • ‘250 More’: A Poem by Miguel Moreno

Categories

  • Acrostic
  • Alexandroid
  • Alliterative
  • Art
  • Best Poems
  • Blank Verse
  • Chant Royal
  • Classical Poets Live
  • Clerihew
  • Covid-19
  • Deconstructing Communism
  • Educational
  • Epic
  • Epigrams and Proverbs
  • Essays
    • Interviews with Poets
    • Poetry Reviews
  • Featured
  • From the Society
  • Great Poets
    • Dante Alighieri
    • Edgar Allan Poe
    • Emily Dickinson
    • Geoffrey Chaucer
    • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
    • Homer
    • John Keats
    • John Milton
    • Robert Frost
    • William Blake
    • William Shakespeare
    • William Wordsworth
  • Human Rights in China
  • Limerick
  • Love Poems
  • Music
  • Pantoum
  • Performing Arts
  • Poetry
    • Beauty
    • Children's Poems
    • Culture
    • Ekphrastic
    • Found Poems
    • High School Poets
    • Humor
    • Riddles
  • Poetry Challenge
  • Poetry Contests
  • Poetry Forms
    • Curtal Sonnet
    • Haiku
  • Poetry Readings
  • Rhupunt
  • Rondeau
  • Rondeau Redoublé
  • Rondel
  • Rubaiyat
  • Sapphic Verse
  • Satire
  • Science
  • Sestina
  • Shape Poems
  • Short Stories
  • Song Lyrics
  • Sonnet
  • Symposium
  • Terrorism
  • Terza Rima
  • The Environment
  • Translation
  • Triolet
  • Video
  • Villanelle

Quick Links

  • About Us
  • Submit Poetry
  • Become a Member
  • Members List
  • Support the Society
  • Advertisement Placement
  • Comments Policy
  • Terms of Use

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Poems
    • Beauty
    • Culture
    • Satire
    • Humor
    • Children’s
    • Art
    • Ekphrastic
    • Epic
    • Epigrams and Proverbs
    • Human Rights in China
    • Music
    • Performing Arts
    • Riddles
    • Science
    • Song Lyrics
    • The Environment
    • The Raven
    • Found Poems
    • High School Poets
    • Terrorism
    • Covid-19
  • Poetry Forms
    • Sonnet
    • Haiku
    • Limerick
    • Villanelle
    • Rondeau
    • Pantoum
    • Sestina
    • Triolet
    • Acrostic
    • Alexandroid
    • Alliterative
    • Blank Verse
    • Chant Royal
    • Clerihew
    • Rhupunt
    • Rondeau Redoublé
    • Rondel
    • Rubaiyat
    • Sapphic Verse
    • Shape Poems
    • Terza Rima
  • Great Poets
    • Geoffrey Chaucer
    • Emily Dickinson
    • Homer
    • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
    • Dante Alighieri
    • John Keats
    • John Milton
    • Edgar Allan Poe
    • William Shakespeare
    • William Wordsworth
    • William Blake
    • Robert Frost
  • Love Poems
  • Contests
  • SCP Academy
    • Educational
    • Teaching Classical Poetry—A Guide for Educators
    • Poetry Forms
    • The SCP Journal
    • Books

© 2025 SCP. WebDesign by CODEC Prime.