Cynics
by Becky Rodia
genre:
Poetry
description:
I write a lot of villanelles, and I write quite a bit about my lifelong obsession with escape artist Harry Houdini. So here's a villanelle about Houdini.
chapters
chapter 1:
Cynics
Cynics
chapter 1
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updated 03/05/08
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833 characters
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0 people liked it
Cynics
The trick begins with Harry in the box.
Searched, we know it holds no saw or knife,
no tools for quick unhasping of the locks.
Still, we scan for cheap and easy hoax,
a disappointing, ill-concealed gaff.
The trick begins with Harry in the box,
and some of us don’t want him out. He mocks
our stasis; out of danger, always safe
with tools for freedom, opening the locks
then striding out to beat the other tricks—
including life – with his American laugh.
The trick begins with Harry in the box,
and who blames him, for getting his kicks
this way? Wouldn’t we, if we had half
his thingamajigs for springing open locks?
He walks away with no hint of a fix,
not even from his ever-loving wife.
The trick begins with Harry in the box;
and ends with our defeat: our coffins lock.
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The trick begins with Harry in the box.
Searched, we know it holds no saw or knife,
no tools for quick unhasping of the locks.
Still, we scan for cheap and easy hoax,
a disappointing, ill-concealed gaff.
The trick begins with Harry in the box,
and some of us don’t want him out. He mocks
our stasis; out of danger, always safe
with tools for freedom, opening the locks
then striding out to beat the other tricks—
including life – with his American laugh.
The trick begins with Harry in the box,
and who blames him, for getting his kicks
this way? Wouldn’t we, if we had half
his thingamajigs for springing open locks?
He walks away with no hint of a fix,
not even from his ever-loving wife.
The trick begins with Harry in the box;
and ends with our defeat: our coffins lock.
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