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TEFL GRAVEYARD POETRY COMPETITION!


bluebird

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too tough for him,
I say, stay in there, I'm not going
to let anybody see
you.

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I pour whiskey on him and inhale
cigarette smoke
and the whores and the bartenders
and the grocery clerks
never know that
he's
in there.

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too tough for him,
I say,
stay down, do you want to mess
me up?
you want to screw up the
works?
you want to blow my book sales in
Europe?

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too clever, I only let him out
at night sometimes
when everybody's asleep.
I say, I know that you're there,
so don't be
sad.
then I put him back,
but he's singing a little
in there, I haven't quite let him
die
and we sleep together like
that
with our
secret pact
and it's nice enough to
make a man
weep, but I don't

weep, do
you?


Who wrote this poem?
  1. John and Liz Soars (authors of New Headway)
  2. David Cotton (author of Business Class)
  3. Simon Haines (author of New First Certificate Masterclass)
  4. Charles Bukowski (author of All The Assholes in the World And Mine)
  5. Raymond Murphy (author of English Grammar In Use)
Prize: Free dictionary

Comments

No Good Boyo said…
I don't recognize it, but it sounds like the Barfly Bukowski himself. Do I win a bottle of electric monkey juice?
Anonymous said…
Took me 12 seconds on google to find that no good boyo was indeed correct. Soooooo dissappointed to find it wasn't the Soarseses* etc. There must be some "good" TEFL poetry out there somewhere! Apparently a DoS in my company had to quit his job because some teachers with a grudge found his blog complete with poetry and he couldn't take the ribbing he got everyday from that day. Lucky the poetry on my blog is well hidden!

TEFLtastic blog- www.tefl.net/alexcase

*Is that the correct plural for Soars?
M C Ward said…
Congratulations, NGB, I fancied your literary leanings would give you the edge. AC, allegedly John Soars has been known to write some pretty racy stuff after a night out getting beered up, but I believe Liz has consistently vetoed publication.

NGB, the dictionary is all yours, as promised in the quiz post: click here
No Good Boyo said…
Bingo! I love words, me.

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