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Synaesthetic Sinatras for Sylvia

Dooby dooby doo
Doo dooby doo
You and your daughter so cute
With her black leather boot
I'm gonna walk all over you.

Frankie, when I feel blue
I listen to your rhyme
Poor and white
A stranger in the night
I exchange glances with you.

And your daughter with the laughing face
You sang with her, too
Your perfume fills my head and oh
The night's so blue
Dooby dooby doo.

Always you gave a lyric something new
You are the one man who
Brought sunshine to my life
Barefoot, I'm shrugging off my shoe
Frankie, I'm finally through




Author notes

Hope it's OK to enter. I'm unlisted. Seems a shame to parody Plath, but I'm actually a great fan of the poem parodied. To say I enjoy Daddy might not be the right word, but it's sure as hell some poem. Who says that Sylvia Plath didn't like rhyming?

http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/7041-Sylvia-Plath-Daddy

A contest entry

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Comments

1 - 10 of 10

  • Winklings gold member
    April 5

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    The two poems are incomparable

    in mood, feeling, tone, truisms. The leap is from traumatised confessional poetry to a rather slick and clever parody upon this famous icon of popular song.
    As a judge, the question is not one of which poem do I prefer to read but rather how well the parody sizes up with the original.
    Well, you have the father-daughter duo working for you well. However, your poem is about your relationship with the two through various media and father/daughter are seen in the third person. So, we have a parallel of sorts with the Plath poem but a satire on Sinatra, as a singer and the kind of way he sang and affected you. For me, that is what your satire is about.
    It is a clever poem you have written but it does not lock into the Plath poem. Your attempt in your final line to do this, for me, does not work. Sorry, because it is a very fine effort.

  • WWildBill gold member
    March 21
    Edit | Reply

    I think I like this poem better than the origional It has a nice ebb and flow to the rhyme, until the last line.


  • Terry-too silver member
    March 15

    Edit | Reply

    Neither a fan nor retractor be...

    Neither a fan of Plath or of Sinatra (It was the 1940's after all) even though other kids in my class loved them both, absolutely goo goo over Frankie, they made me a misfit even then. This sounds pretty sick but I guess that was the intention--and it read rather better than the original Plath.
    Terry

    . Rewarded 6


  • Just Rob gold member
    March 11

    Edit | Reply

    Right On!

    Inspired, this joining of another father/daughter team. I felt the same sort of darkness in the Sinatras, an undercurrent. I'm a big Plath fan, {yes, I admit it} and this parody is right on the mark, and inventive as hell. What a rip, to read one after the other. Best of luck!

    . Rewarded 6

  • ecrivain01 silver member
    March 9

    Edit | Reply

    I'm with MargaretG ...

    and am definitely no fan of Plath. I have to say that you have done fairly well here, although the last line was a real let down. It just didn't seem to have any punch to it at all. I think you could have found something a little stronger to end this with.

    Strangers In The Night is one of my all time favorite songs, so it was interesting to see it included here.

    . Rewarded 8


    • Keith
      March 9
      Edit | Reply
      Well, I could say Frankie, Frankie you bastard, I'm through. But I thought I'd make it a bit gentler. There's enough strength of feeling in the original. Plath had a habit of writing, as it were, with blood, and saying things we'd rather not hear. And I'll admit she's inspired some awful self-pitying nonsense from some. But I still think that at her best she was a genius. I can recite most of Lady Lazarus from memory. But I don't do it at Burns' suppers. Best Wishes.

  • MargaretG silver member
    March 9

    Edit | Reply
    Frank and Nancy sang together, I think, though I don't remember her appearing much after "Boots". This is an inspired satire of Sinatra, using lines from his songs, I like it very much. I am not a fan of Plath, or dismals in general, though of course there is nothing wrong with admiring her work.
    Best of luck in the contest.

    . Rewarded 6


  • Mairi bheag gold member
    March 9

    Edit | Reply
    This contest gets more surreal by the minute.

    This poem - I don't know why - but I love it. It tickles me.

    . Rewarded 4


    • Keith
      March 9
      Edit | Reply
      Thanks very much. I kind of like it myself. There's a father/daughter relationship in the parody which at first I didn't notice, but it helps to make a link to the original.
  • Bad Bill
    March 9

    Edit | Reply
    A clever and highly imaginative parody--the yoking together of such incongruous elements as Plath and Sinatra works really well and is very entertaining to boot!

    Bill

1 - 10 of 10