Dave Carr

Reading, Rioting and (A)rithmetic - a villanelle

by Dave Carr

Thursday 11th August 2011 6:39 pm

I’m interested to know what makes you tick

So tell me what you learned today, my son

Oh reading, rioting and arithmetic

When you go late night shopping with a brick

Can we blame too much drink or too much sun?

I’m interested to know what makes you tick

Somewhere along the line I missed a trick

So this is all you’ve learned – excuse the pun

Just reading, rioting and arithmetic

Misunderstood, rejected or just thick

Why do you feel that you should have a gun?

I’m interested to know what makes you tick

The police seem toothless so you take the mick

Just lads together out to have some fun

Hah reading, rioting and arithmetic

So blame society, they made you sick

Deep down do you feel proud of what you’ve done?

I’m interested to know what makes you tick

Just reading, rioting and arithmetic

villanelle

◄ Political Statement - The Latest Decree

Sparky ►

Comments

Ann Foxglove

Thu 1st Sep 2011 10:43

Hi Dave - can I read this to my reading group this Saturday, obviously saying you wrote it? We were supposed to write something about riots for "homework" but I wrote about something totally different (they won't mind) but I do think this is a wonderful & v clever poem and I know they would enjoy it if I can read this as well.xx

Dave Carr

Tue 16th Aug 2011 17:43

Thanks for all the comments on this.
The penny has dropped Isobel. Now I know why we get the also by Dave Carr messages. I think that is the first time I've done it more than once a month.

John Coopey

Fri 12th Aug 2011 23:31

Excelleny stuff, Dave. And good to see some form stuff.
To follow Ann. A mate of mine's lad's mate's mate (honest) videoed himself looting and posted it on Facebook. Dumb or what?
It gets better - he was looting Poundland!
He should be dead proud to show his mates his set of crayons and birdfeeder.

Isobel

Fri 12th Aug 2011 17:20

We can only present one poem per month to be on show continually in blogs. Once we blog another it drops behind the other one. You can access it by clicking on previous but it isn't as evident as it used to be in the past. The new system was devised to share out blog space equally and accommodate those who wanted to blog large numbers of poems without people complaining.

It isn't a problem for me cos I'm not that prolific nowadays. I would normally hold off blogging a second on the heels though.

Dave Carr

Fri 12th Aug 2011 17:16

Didn't mean to cover it up.
How does that work?

Isobel

Fri 12th Aug 2011 17:13

A great performance piece also Dave - I enjoyed listening to this last night - and I am always impressed by anyone who can do a villanelle - I remember starting one ages ago and abandoning it... It's a pity you've covered this one up by the other so quickly!

I like your little story Ann - it is really funny! A friend of mine had her shop looted and vandalised in Manchester. It is a skate boarding shop that also sells expensive watches and trainers (Vans - I'd never heard of them). The trainers didn't go cos there were only right feet and all the left were locked up in the basement. Everything else went though. Funnily enough she recognised a few regular customers on the CCTV footage...

The sad thing is that some boards were decorated by original artwork from famous skaters - impossible to replace really and the business was only just starting to do thrive after much hard effort.

Ann Foxglove

Fri 12th Aug 2011 11:29

Really good poem Dave. I've never tried a villanelle, the fact that you have stuck to the form but you're talking about such a contrasting topic is wonderfull.
It may be an apocryphal story, but someone told me about one particular street in London. Every shop had been broken into, everything had been stolen, all the shops were now standing empty. Every single shop except - Waterstones! They'd left that one intact!

Lizzie

Fri 12th Aug 2011 10:42

Brilliant :)