I have the most rhetorical fear
leaving me in disgrace.
When I tell others what I dread most
they laugh right in my face.
Poe strikes fear into my “tell-tale heart”
with every written plight.
Nothing is quite terrifying as
Shakespeare’s “mid-summer night”.
My mind reels madly in great fright as
my eyes scan down the page.
Words forming lines of intricate rhymes
put my head in a daze.
Eliot and Chaucer rattle with
tales of wastelands and wives.
Frost and Longfellow in their glory
will break me out in hives.
My palms grow clammy, my vision blurs,
my knees begin to knock.
My flesh breaks out in a fine sheen as
my stomach twists a knot.
Keats and Plath, with each image conjured,
fill me with undue dread.
If you haven’t realized this fear yet,
you have rocks in your head.
Metrophobia claims my mind,
all my senses give in.
Lines of verse in poetic motion
set my fear to begin.
Here is a friendly hint in case you
still haven’t got a clue.
I 'm a complete contradiction with
sinistrophobia too.
Author notes
METROPHOBIA: The fear of poetry
SINISTROPHOBIA: The fear of left-handedness or things on the left side of the body.
Obviously, I personally do not suffer from metrophobia, but I thought it would be wonderfully ironic to write a poem about the fear of poetry as if it were my own fear... which is the first contradiction... I am a complete contradiction in this poem because I am left-handed and it would be equally ironic for me to have sinistrophobia 
To recap... I LOVE poetry, and I am left-handed 
Image found here: http://novembermeisje.deviantart.com/art/Frightened-85987655
****Do not read below this line if you don't want any more explaination of the poem ********************************************************************************************
I think it is more than obvious what the fear is through the many references given. I referenced my fave authors and my fave writings by them as my greatest poetic fears.
Edgar Allen Poe: The Tell-Tale Heart
William Shakespeare: A Mid-Summer Night's Dream
T.S. Eliot: The Wasteland
Geoffrey Chaucer: The Wife of Bath's Tale
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is my ultimate favorite and an ancestor of mine, so I had to include him.
And the other three; Frost, Keats and Plath are more that I admire.
In a list
A contest entry
- phobia by emma....
700 points, ended October 11, 20 entries
Silver trophy winner
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Should I remove or leave in the last 2 stanzas, I can't decide.
Comments
1 - 20 of 20
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This is just darned good! My greatest fear is that people are going to go back and read the masters and realize what a hack I am. Leave the stanzas alone, they are not hurting anyone! I think that they add a nice finishing touch to the rest of the work. Kind of like a nice red after dinner.
Peace
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Hmm...I can see why you're unsure about the last two stanzas. I like them and all but somehow they don't really fit in with the rest of poem. They feel different like you've written them in a different style or pasted them from another idea you had. Personally I would remove them. I think it would make the poem snappier, particularly since you offer an explanation of the poem underneath.
Hope this is of some help.
Great write. Thank you for sharing. -
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Thank you so much for your comment. That's pretty much exactly what I've been thinking about those stanzas since I posted this. They're from this idea and written in the same style (though the syllable count is different in the last line due to the length of sinistrophobia) but what you stated is completely true... they do seem to be a bit out of place. I think it might be because I'm hinting at the phobia through out then just open up and state it at the end. I still think might remove those stanzas in the future, set them aside for another poem or something lol... but I think I'll leave them in till this contest is closed and see what happens, because you're the only person who's agreed with me so far that they just don't feel like they fit lol
Thanks so much for you input
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That's funny I have sinistrophobia and I'm left handed... lol
This piece is very good with excellent flow... You have done a wonderful job here...
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You don't need my comment; I'm in agreement with the others --- keep it as is. I also liked the rocks in your head line. I benefit from reading your poem so here is some applause and thanks for sharing this on Shameless.
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Thanks so much for your kind comment
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hehehehehehe. i saw your shameless.
don't remove anything, i think that the judge will love it the way it is
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Yeah... I hope she's a nice judge
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hahaha xD no worries. i'm sure she'd be nice to such a fabulouuuus entrant.
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CA, its really funny. I read this poem off of the Shameless link and had no idea it was yours until I was about to comment on it. The first thing I thought to myself was actually, "I wonder what Concrete Angel would say about this! HAH! Why? Because you always have really insightful comments. I really love the way you have paid homage to the former greats. I also really enjoy that I learned two new phobias! This line made me chuckle:
"If you haven’t realized this fear yet,
you have rocks in your head."
More than anything though I LOVED "rhetorical fear". Great as always!
(I really wished my comments were as good as yours :/)
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Oh yeah... and I've got another one in the shameless right now too so watch out lol
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HAHAHA! That's just too funny!
And... Your comments are fantastic! So don't sell yourself short
I'm glad you liked the line about "rocks in your head" because that really almost didn't make it into the poem... I was greatly debating it... as well as "rhetorical fear" that was a last minute change that I thought was a change for the better. I'm glad you enjoyed the poem... and am flattered that you wondered what I would say about it when you first read it
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no
poetry should remain the same as it was originally, its originality that counts -
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Thanks
A great point made
I think I'm going to leave them in...
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bravo
i wouldnt change a thing this is just shear brilliance i loved ever word
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I really love this poem I had no idea that there was a phobia of poetry nor left-handedness a very brilliant write I think this poem is cool
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I knew about the left-handed phobia because throughout history left-handedness has been associated with evil and the devil so of course there would be people that fear it lol.
I had no clue there was a phobia of poetry either though! But I was looking on this website called the phobia list to decide what I wanted to write about and found it lol... I think it's just www.phobialist.com
It has just about every phobia anyone could think of... and obviously some we can't lol.
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Great poem, I loved the ironic twist! it was brilliant! all the things included in this are amazing - naming famous poets and the ironic theme perfectly written in ryhme ( which I envy coz I cant ryhme lol) make this truly fantastic . Best of luck in the contest
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THANKS
I worked hard to make sure I had the same number of syllables in each stanza to get my rhyme to flow as smoothly as possible; each stanzas lines are 9-6-9-6
Each poet and poem I referenced are actually my fave poets and my fave poems by them lol. Thanks for yet another wonderful comment
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