Stealing Firewood on a Snowy Evening

8730186238_27092cfd9a_b

I thought I could
Just chop some wood.
No one was near,
So that was good.

My horse’s ear
Flickered with fear —
Or maybe chill,
It wasn’t clear;

She waited till
She’d had her fill
Of polar air
There on that hill;

And then my mare
Shot me a glare
And left me there
And left me there.

Image: o by Flickr user Kristel Jax, published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) license.

This is, of course, in parody of Robert Frost’s immortal “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” which — I am reliably informed — is in the public domain in the United States, by the skin of its teeth.

17 thoughts on “Stealing Firewood on a Snowy Evening”

Very effective – spot on iambic and yet for a very dramatic effect you wrote in dimeter rather than tetrameter which tightens the poem and makes it more immediate, more electric. Very inventive thing to do and still kept that “Frost” naturalness and ineffable quality. Well done!

LikeLiked by 1 person

Reply ↓

Rain, Rain on 12 February 2015 at 3:24 pm said:

Merci beaucoup! It was fun to write, thanks for a happy prompt!

LikeLike

Reply ↓

you aced this form and then some… I’m guessing you were taking too long with that wood, aye? The horse is like, “hey! I gotta life too ya know!” hehehe…

LikeLike

Reply ↓

Rain, Rain on 12 February 2015 at 4:56 pm said:

Yes, horses and me, we are not copacetic. So glad you enjoyed my little diversion!

LikeLike

Reply ↓

LOVED!!!!! IT!!!!!!!!!!! Completely.

LikeLike

Reply ↓

Rain, Rain on 12 February 2015 at 9:45 pm said:

Oh, you made me blush. Thank you!

LikeLiked by 1 person

Reply ↓

I love that you shortened the lines to dimeter (?) — which adds to the effect of making it a little more flippant. Beside the title is genius, putting a purpose behind Frost’s poem .. Great stuff.

LikeLike

Reply ↓

Rain, Rain on 12 February 2015 at 11:09 pm said:

I always wondered what he was doing out there in the middle of the night…

LikeLike

Reply ↓

You just nailed it dear. A standing ovation for you.

LikeLike

Reply ↓

Rain, Rain on 13 February 2015 at 4:16 am said:

That makes me happy! Thank you so much.

LikeLiked by 1 person

Reply ↓
- rythaephua on 16 February 2015 at 7:50 am said:
  
  Glad, you are welcome.
  
  LikeLike

I love the staccato use of syllables rather than iambs, which gives the poem such a lively feel. The last two lines left me wondering about bruised behinds!

LikeLike

Reply ↓