A Romantic Comedy

I'd like to write a romantic comedy
in four acts like Will Shakespeare did
Tragedy's not for me, you can see
by the bells and cap I wear
Clad like a court jester I can
dance and caper
with love as my chief motive

I adore outdoor action
the forest of Arden
populated by the likes
of Rosalind and Celia
Phebe and Audrey
daughters and country wenches

I could idealize a heroine
who usually masks herself
as a man, a swain, one
who deceives and is
deceived in turn

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poem by Michael Pruchnicki
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In Good Company

We sat in the kitchen all night drinking Irish tea
and talking till first light about women in literature
Kate, Cordelia, Wyfe of Bath, Antigone, Lady Mac
shrew, fond daughter, lively bawd, tough chick, bitch!

We talked for hours on end about women's roles-
how they talk & nag, play at love, fight male tyranny,
these shrews, daughters, bawds, women & wretches-
one loves a dad too well, one aids & abets Murder One

they talk, they nag, they play the field, they stand & die
one is tamed, a second hanged, another desperate
for love, one loves an aging dad, one inspires murder,
a loyal sister condemned, a cold-hearted queen dies!

Kate's tamed, Cordelia's executed, Wyfe seeks spouse #6,
Shakespeare's Taming fills the Globe, Chaucer's Tales
read in English, Antigone dies, a queen defenestrates!
Sophocles takes first and Macbeth's a great film!

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poem by Michael Pruchnicki
Added by Poetry Lover
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