Have A Good Gruntle Poem by Michael Shepherd

Have A Good Gruntle

Rating: 2.5


'You're the most ept, ert, choate and dolent person I know -
how do you manage it? '

'Excuse me...? ? '

Words are fun.
If your child's school report
declared him or her
'inept, inert, inchoate, and indolent'
you'd have a fairly clear picture
of how things are;
the negatives survive,
as more useful
(ah, sad reflection...)

and then there are the words
that have reversed their meanings
by some really interesting
but alas never yet charted
human failing:
'nice' once meant stupid and ignorant;
'silly' once meant blissful...

But today I'm savouring 'disgruntled':

that is, dissatisfied, and angry with it;
a state not unknown
to a consumer society;
so are you gruntled today -
satisfied and happy?

but it's not quite as easy as that:
if you're gruntled, then officially you're
'uttering little grunts'...

would that be while DIYing
somewhere back of the sink,
or pigging out so fast you can hardly
make time to breathe,
or perhaps being, uh,
sexually favoured?

Words are fun
especially for poets -
Shakespeare made up more than anyone
just like that
without some egghead like Bacon (aha!) or Jonson
looking over his shoulder and saying
you can't say that
they won't know what you mean
in the low-price seats...

Words are fun;
give them a good shake of the kaleidoscope
and they just might play nose-to-tail
and make a poem

though not today it seems

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Lenchen Elf 17 February 2005

Words......let them play: -) Gruntling away here Michael, all the very best L

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Sandra Osborne 18 February 2005

I love your style and you have a unique voice. Thank you, great piece,10+

0 0 Reply
Cj Heck 17 February 2005

Michael, what a fun poem! You have such a way with... ah... words... Hugs, CJ

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Michael Tonkin 17 February 2005

Michael you have excelled yourself, this poem is pure joy. Words are fun, language is fun, poetry is fun. When I'm caught by something like this I am set up for the rest of the day. This one will go up on my wall and I will be able to read it whenever the fancy takes me.

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Herbert Nehrlich1 17 February 2005

Is grunting a distant cousin to grumping? I hope so. It would get me into a better class here at home on the range. People do seem to have more grunt when they are grumping or disgruntled. What about grumbling, gruff and grudging. Psst, I will take my pick. H

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celine charcoal 17 February 2005

i see a very distanced attitude towards words here..

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Michael Shepherd

Michael Shepherd

Marton, Lancashire
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