RAP3

Random Acts of Poetry - Act 3

(Under Construction)
While I'm writing these, I'll post a few as a bonus to my readers prior to the book release. I am up to 29 poems as of June 21. If you have any ideas for a sub-title, please send them to bastarrpublishing@hotmail.com.
Some poem titles include the following:
Summer Solstice Sonnet
Remembering Jerry
Letting the Cat out of the Bag
Sonnet of the Fruit of the Spirit
Prayin' Myself to Sleep
Tiki Torches
Hangman
The Score
The Birds and the Bees
Odysseus Return
Rotten in Denmark
April Fools
To Sweat Like a Pig
Japanese Crackers
Doing Things Once
A Welcome Change
Dissected Maps
DNA
Frankenmuth
Paperwhites

Rotten in Denmark

By Brett A. Starr on April 11, 2022

Have you ever heard the phrase?
“There is something rotten in Denmark?”
I have heard it on certain days
Few may know the origin of the remark

​

The meaning in hearing this thought
Is seldom misunderstood
It’s when things seem a bit odd
An evil plot seems afoot

​

Near 1600 William Shakespeare
Created a mighty play
About a King of Denmark
Who was murdered and betrayed

​

The King was Hamlet’s father
Hamlet’s uncle -- the successor
Claudius, was an evil man
A power greedy aggressor

​

Hamlet sees his father’s ghost
Who beckons his attention
Horatio and Marcellus
Plead for Hamlet’s abstention

​

The famous phrase in question
Is not fully “in-the-park”
The phrase begins, “There is something rotten
In the State of Denmark.”

​

This refers to Claudius’s rule
And the corruption that would seem
To come to surface as time went on
Revealing a rotten scheme

​

Alas, the next line is left behind
Important and neglected
A picture of faith, that truth will come out
“Heaven will direct it!”

Footnote: Here’s another one of those phrases many use, but don’t question the origin. Did you know that it came from Hamlet, one of the best works from William Shakespeare over 400 years ago? Do you know of anything rotten going on now?  Reference the website: https://www.patrickkphillips.com/grammar/the-story-behind-the-phrase-something-rotten-in-denmark/

April Fools

By Brett A. Starr on April 1, 2022

What can be said about April Fools
Where pranks are played in many schools
And other stories appeared in news
To catch the gullible who missed the clues

Origins of this day has history
The reasons are a bit of a mystery
For instance, in France in 1582
The calendar changed from Julian and Hindu

To Gregorian which started on January 1
Instead of in the Spring as historically done
The Council of Trent in 1563
Dictated this change that came to be 

Some were slow to change this way
April first -- the old New Year’s Day
A clever piece of influence
To promote the date of difference

Signs were placed on backs quite devilish
With words “poisson d’avril” or April fish
Who were easily caught or gullible
This made the change more willable

Another piece of the mystery 
From ancient Rome the cult of Cybele
Hilaria -- a festival that demonstrates
With disguises mocking magistrates

Or could the explanation bring
Credence to the first day of Spring
With Mother Nature’s spectacle 
Of weather that is unpredictable

In the 18th century in the land of Scot’s
A two-day event of “Hunting the gowk”
Where people were sent on phony chores
A prank that only a fool explores

I’ll bet you’ll find many other things
Explain what April Fool’s Day brings
A little nonsense makes life more fun
A game that’s played by everyone