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Imogen
Eletelephony
Laura E. Richards
Once there was an elephant,
Who tried to use the telephant-
No! No! I mean an elephone
Who tried to use the telephone-
(Dear me! I am not certain quite
That even now I’ve got it right.)
Howe’er it was, he got his trunk
Entangled in the telephunk;
The more he tried to get free,
The louder buzzed the telephee-
(I fear I’d better drop the song
Of elephop and telephong!)
I like this poem because it makes me laugh. Laura E. Richards uses words that she has made up to make it seem as if she has messed up her words accidentally. The poem is actually very carefully constructed with rhyming couplets from the start to the end. I like the part, “Howe’er it was, he got his trunk Entangled in the telephunk; the more he tried to get free, the louder buzzed the telephee-“ because it sounds like he was trying to pick up the phone with his trunk and he got tangled in the phone cord.
Poetry is an animal storming through a large lake.