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The Adventures of Verb

At six, I had a dictionary
Where I would meet a man named Verb,
Superb and quite extraordinary,
In every definition’s blurb,
Right at the finish, did while doing,
For example: “Verb chewed, chewing.”

In my mind, I saw Verb clearly,
With brown hair, mustache, thin, and tall.
“Verb smiled, smiling” sincerely
And “Verb told, telling” me of all
That “Verb did, doing” through his days
Within a sentence or a phrase.

“Verb ran, running,” “Verb swam, swimming,”
“Verb vaulted, vaulting,” “Verb gave, giving,”
“Verb bought, buying,” “Verb trimmed, trimming,”
“Verb flew, flying,” “Verb lived, living,”
One day I came real close to crying:
The day I read that “Verb died, dying.”

I looked up “verb,” and then I knew,
It’s not a man who lived and died;
It’s just a word that means to do.
Relieved, I put the book aside
And ran outside, where I “played, playing”
The things Verb did that still “stayed, staying.”

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Names in Ink

“‘Marriage is one thing… but a tattoo is permanent!’”
—From a Reader’s Digest anecdote

I saw a man with four tattoos:
One “Karla” underneath the place
Of paint rolled in three streaks of blues,
Each trace of exes to erase.

When Karla saw herself replace
The women’s names inscribed in ink
(Cassandra, Jessica, and Grace),
I wonder if she stopped to think…

One day, their hearts won’t be in sync,
And his commitment’s not too strong.
Hence Karla’s name within a blink
Will be rolled out and moved along.

Too few these days can see the wrong
Or what the world is forced to lose
When marriage doesn’t last as long
As people’s names in old tattoos.

First published in Snakeskin

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Joshua C. Frank works in the field of statistics and lives near Austin, Texas. His poetry has also been published in Snakeskin, Sparks of Calliope, Atop the Cliffs, and the Asahi Haikuist Network, and his short fiction has been published in Nanoism.

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The Society of Classical Poets does not endorse any views expressed in individual poems or commentary.


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28 Responses

  1. Allegra Silberstein

    I especially enjoyed “Names in Ink” …so much truth and wisdom there.

    Reply
    • Joshua C. Frank

      Thank you, Allegra. When I saw the picture, I had to write the story behind it.

      Reply
  3. Cynthia Erlandson

    “The Adventures of Verb” is fun — a creative idea and quite funny. “Names in Ink” is also clever— and, sadly, quite true.

    Reply
    • Joshua C. Frank

      Thank you, Cynthia. It truly is sad that there is a need for “Names in Ink.” The option to divorce has wrecked a lot more lives than it has helped.

      Reply
  4. Paddy Raghunathan

    Joshua,

    When I read the first poem, I’m sorry to tell you I didn’t “laugh, laughing.” I died laughing.

    The second poem has so much truth in it.

    Congrats on writing these two very fine poems.

    Paddy

    Reply
  5. Russel Winick

    Good work Joshua. I especially enjoyed Names in Ink. In college a girl that I had grown up with told me she’d had her boyfriend’s name tattooed on her backside. I kid you not. Then they broke up. She wasn’t pleased. Using bodies as pieces of canvas never appealed to me, but to each their own. Thanks for the reads.

    Reply
    • Joshua C. Frank

      Thank you, Russel, especially for the story! I laughed out loud. What are people thinking, making permanent changes without commitment?

      Reply
      • Joseph S. Salemi

        Maybe the couple broke up BECAUSE she got that tattoo on her derriere. Many young women don’t realize that, in the eyes of some men, they desexualize their bodies when they get tattooed, particularly if the tattoo is in an erogenous zone.

      • Joshua C. Frank

        I had never thought of that, but now that I’m thinking about it, I agree with those men.

      • Paul Oratofsky

        Their commitment is to a feeling they have, and when the women they’re with don’t sustain that, they look elsewhere. But each time they seem to have enough hope to think it will last forever with that woman. It’s sad in a way, but also full of [repeated] bouts of hope – so there’s something good about it. Or at least hopeful.

      • Joshua C. Frank

        Meanwhile, they waste their time pursuing empty relationships instead of doing the hard work of making a permanent one.

        My poem “A Modernization of ‘To His Coy Mistress’” comes to mind, plus “No Extra Lives.”

  6. Brian A Yapko

    Both of these are terrific poems, Josh. Well done! “The Adventures of Verb” is inventive and fun while “Names in Ink”, though funny, carries a sharp edge. “Verb” would be delightful with some illustrations for a short children’s book which addresses different parts of speech – something akin to Grammar Rock from back in the day.

    As for “Names in Ink”… Well, I’ve never understood the craze to get tattoos and frankly find them a turn-off. I remember meeting a relatively young guy about 20 years ago who was disabled and on social security. He was so happy when his late social security check finally arrived because it meant he could finish his latest tattoo.

    Reply
    • Joshua C. Frank

      Thank you, Brian. That’s a good idea, a children’s book with illustrations and the text of “The Adventures of Verb.”

      I’ve never understood the whole tattoo thing, either—why put something on your body you can’t take off?

      Reply
  7. Adam Wasem

    What a great children’s poem “The Adventures of Verb” is. Clever, inventive, and inherently witty and amusing. Exactly the opposite of what children’s book publishers are looking for these days. Too busy festooning themselves with awful tattoos to give solid verse a good look, no doubt. Regarding tattoos, my answer was always one of two, depending on the interlocutor, when asked if I had one: either, “I won’t put graffiti on Gods temple,” or “would you put a bumper sticker on a Ferrari?”

    Reply
    • Joshua C. Frank

      Thank you, Adam. Like all of my poetry, “The Adventures of Verb,” if it were a book, would have to be self-published. The publishing industry, like everything else in the art world, has fallen for the idea that only insipid art is worth showing to the public. I think that’s because beauty motivates us to greatness, and the powers that be want to keep us weak and docile.

      I like your answers to the tattoo question! Certainly better than what I would have said…

      Reply
  8. Julian D. Woodruff

    Both very good, Joshua. Rockwell, who famously and artistically commented on the tattoo problem, was smart enough to allow easy correction via brush, canvas, and paint.

    Reply
    • Joshua C. Frank

      Thank you, Julian. Yes, that was a great painting! Back in the days before the last stanza of “Names in Ink” was true…

      Reply
  9. Roy Eugene Peterson

    Two very cleverly constructed poems. I appreciated your thought of reading the dictionary. That was one of the few books I had and read between nursery rhymes and Nancy Drew. I never could imagine having a tattoo. Crossing out the names is especially funny to me.

    Reply
    • Joshua C. Frank

      Thank you, Roy. My mother got me a children’s dictionary when I was little (I’ve known how to read at least since I was 3), and the poem was based on that dictionary. (I wish I remembered the title so I could locate it!) I liked the illustrations and enjoyed picturing the scenarios in the sample sentences as if they were little stories of their own.

      I couldn’t imagine getting a tattoo, either. I have a feeling that guy will run out of skin before too long and be covered with those paint-roller tattoos.

      Reply
  10. Joseph S. Salemi

    This is such a delightful poem that after reading it silently on the screen, I had to recite at aloud to myself twice, just to get the full enjoyment of its wit and wordplay.

    The sad part is that practically no young reader today would have the slightest idea what you are discussing, since the teaching of English grammar (even the simple parts of speech) is now taboo in public education.

    Tattoos in Western culture are barbaric, and were in the past only sported by sailors, criminals, and the cheapest of cheap sluts. Still in Japan they are considered beyond the pale. When my sister-in-law went there on a business trip many years ago, her interpreter insisted that she cover up the small tattoo on her arm with a bandage, and tell every business contact whom she had to meet that she had suffered a bad burn.

    Reply
    • Joshua C. Frank

      Thank you, Joe. I’m delighted to hear that you enjoyed “The Adventures of Verb” that much. I’m surprised to hear that today’s young readers wouldn’t understand any of it… but I guess I shouldn’t be.

      That’s interesting to hear about tattoos as well.

      Reply
  11. Margaret Coats

    “Adventures of Verb” shows fine poetic talent in taking a child’s perception to create a character and make a story about him. It reads delightfully, showing more talent yet in rhyme and rhythm.

    And speaking of rhyme, Josh, you make good use of the Spenserian-sonnet rhyme pattern in “Names in Ink.” It was introduced in Scotland before Spenser picked it up, and Scottish poets in particular carry it beyond the quatorzain sonnet, as you do here in 16 lines. You do what I call “rounding” by going back to the first rhyme sound at the end of the poem: abab bcbc cdcd dada. It’s a creative technique to make a sort of ring to lament the insincerity of “love” relationships.

    Like most commentors, I’ve never been tempted by tattoos. My husband considers ear-piercing a barbarian mutilation. When I found out that I would have to wear earrings every day simply to keep the hole open, it was too much trouble.

    Reply
    • Joshua C. Frank

      Thank you, Margaret. I’m honored by your comments about “The Adventures of Verb.”

      With the interlocking rhyme pattern in “Names in Ink,” it just seemed like the right form. It fits with the hamster-wheel-like cycle of falling in and out of love with one person after another—and the fact of carrying traces of the prior relationship into the next. But I don’t consciously think of these things when choosing a form; an idea pops up and I follow it to see if it works. (Sometimes it doesn’t, and a villanelle turns into a rondeau or vice versa.)

      I’m with you on both tattoos and piercings!

      Reply
  12. Tonia Kalouria

    Josh,
    Two fun reads! Love/loved the clever Verb poem
    and the Cautionary Tale of the Tattoos.

    Reply

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