THE NEW SON-NET


I'm writing you a poem which has four-
Teen lines--which means, of course, that it's a son-
Net, and therefore good and worth our stu-
Dy.  Older sonnets rhymed, but now the hy-
Phen's used at ends of lines.  Who wants old-fash-
Ioned stuff?  Who cares to listen to that child-
Ish sing-song, ring-ding, dung-tongue repeti-
Tion?  We hyphenate, and sometimes use a dash--

To signify the octave's over, fin-
Ished. Now it's time to write a clever ses-
Tet.  No more silly quasi-insubstan-
Tial rhyming trash.  No wit or thought or mean-
Ing. All we need is form, and formula-
Tion.  Sing, my muse, sing hyphenated trash--