Sunday, March 10, 2013

dVerse Submission: Regina, A Fish Tale

Regina, A Fish Tale

A shark swims quiet down in the deep,
A pretty girl swims at night.
The island is already asleep.
Unaware of a great big fright.



The shark is hungry,
He’s hungry for food
And he’s hunting off of Amity
The beaches stay open, now Pippet is gone
And…little Alex, he eats.
Beware the Great White shark!
Beware the Great White shark!
He’ll drag you down and eat you up.
Beware of the Great White shark!
Hey! We need expert help!
Beware the Great White shark!
First came Hooper from the Institute
Who supported a holiday ban.
Beaches stayed open another day
The Great ate another man.  

They hired Quint, at a handsome fee,
That drunk and crazy old goat.
At sea the shark attacks “You’re gonna
need a bigger boat”
Beware the Great White shark!
Beware the Great White shark!
He’ll drag you down and eat you up.
Beware of the Great White shark!
Shit! I’m gonna have bad dreams!
Beware the Great White shark!
I really love some Queen
I thought that this’d be fun
The music’s stuck in my head
I’m thinking this wasn’t that smart
There are plenty of ways you can kill a shark
And answer islanders’ calls
You can lick him
You can kick him
You can stick him with the poisonous
Chemicals
But in the end, Martin he blew him up
With a bullet and compressed air.
Just when you thought it was safe to go
Back, “Jaws 2”,  no wait, that’s not fair.
Beware the Great White shark!
Beware the Great White shark!
He’ll drag you down and eat you up.
Beware of the Great White shark!
Fuck! I’ll never swim again.
Beware the Great White shark!
heidi
 written 3/9/13 for dVerse Poetics: Interactions (Click to visit dVerse)
listen to ‘Regina, A Fish Tale’ on Audioboo
Brian and Gretchen co-tended tonight and gave us some cool prompts, which I kind of took liberties with.
Brian's prompt was to get a list of words MadLib style and work them into a poem. My husband provided me with these words shark, man, swim, is, are, pretty, handsome, smart, food, music. I love MadLibs, and I love sharks, and I thought that I should retell Steven Spielberg's movie Jaws (although maybe let the shark win this time...I always root for the shark.)
Gretchen's prompt was to think about music that has inspired you and  that moment when it first happened or listen to it again with a new mindset and see what happens.  Hopefully, y'all recognized Another One Bites the Dust (click for lyrics and a video. Lyrics and music written by John Deacon.)by Queen. My first memory of this song was when I was around 11 or 12 and my friend told me that if you played it backwards, you could hear them sing "I love to smoke marijuana." So, of course, I was never going to listen to Queen again. That's the nice thing about growing up...you can laugh at those silly childhood thoughts...never listen to Queen again? Let's try not needing oxygen first. Gretchen, this is what happens when you ask me to think about music that inspires me.

So you see what happened. I wrote a parody combining Jaws and Another One Bites the Dust. (Yes, Weird Al has had an unusually strong influence on me.) 
I also have no musical ability whatsoever. I hope that one day Freddie will forgive me.

Posted by at
Labels: , , ,

25 comments:

  1. brudbergMarch 10, 2013 at 3:01 AM

    Wonderful, do I also here some influence from big bad wolf? Could fit Heidi's prompt too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. HeidiMarch 10, 2013 at 6:01 AM

      Big bad wolf? I don't know what you mean...but I'm intrigued.

      Delete
  2. ClaudiaMarch 10, 2013 at 3:57 AM

    oha...for once i'm glad i don't live close to the ocean...smiles... i like the rhythm here and the repetition works well.. just lately went to hear someone who dived all the oceans of the world, swimming with white sharks as well...they're peaceful like lambs he said... usually..smiles

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. HeidiMarch 10, 2013 at 6:06 AM

      Hey Claudia! Thank you! I did have some guilt over perpetuating the negative image of the great white from the movie and the book. I am hoping that most people who visit here are like you and know people are more of a threat to them than they are to us. I would love to go swimming with them.

      Delete
  3. Brian MillerMarch 10, 2013 at 7:06 AM

    ha...another one bites the dust has such a strong beat...and reading it again, i hear it very clearly...when i lived in florida we def had a few shark attacks but nothing like other things you know...your percent chance is really not that big...does make for a nice poem though...smiles....

    ReplyDelete
  4. HeidiMarch 10, 2013 at 7:20 AM

    Hey Brian! Thanks for the fun prompt! I thought that it worked well with Gretchen's. I'm glad you liked it, and that you could here the song in it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. ninotazizMarch 10, 2013 at 7:28 AM

    Hello Heidi,
    Fun revisit to the 80s. I immediately had the beat of Another One Bite The Dust in my head. I am sure Freddie would be happy. I somehow miss the videos of Annie Lennox - don't you think back then video releases were events?

    So nice of you to drop by my blog and said what you said. I think the poetry blogosphere is a very fortunate group and we are blessed to know each other.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. HeidiMarch 12, 2013 at 2:41 AM

      Hi Ninotaziz!
      Thank you, I tried to do Freddie proud. When I first read your comment I had to Youtube some old Eurythmics videos... SO AWESOME! I do miss 80's videos.

      Thank you for coming by and welcome to the lasagna! I am really just now getting into the community, and I agree with you we are very blessed.

      Delete
  6. ScarletMarch 10, 2013 at 7:45 AM

    I am scared to swim out far and about, and adding the shark images, only reinforce my desire to stay near the shores ~

    And I do like that music, Another One Bite the Dust ~ I also heard about that rumor but never did know if its true ~

    Happy Sunday ~

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. HeidiMarch 12, 2013 at 2:43 AM

      Hi Grace!

      I apologize for the fright :) I have never been able to listen to it backwards, but the official stance is that there are no backwards messages. (I still really want to listen to it backwards, though.)

      We had a lovely Sunday. Hope you had one as well!

      Delete
  7. JayGMarch 10, 2013 at 8:23 AM

    I like the rhythm of this, Heidi...the story and the song...I remember when Jaws came out and the buzz everywhere about it...never saw it in the theaters...saw it later on cable.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. HeidiMarch 12, 2013 at 2:45 AM

      Thank you Eusebia! I've never seen it at the theaters either, but who knows what they'll do in 12 years for the 50th anniversary? Maybe then...

      Delete
  8. DelainaMarch 10, 2013 at 8:33 AM

    Heidi;
    I love the way you spun the two prompts together. You captured images and sound and wove them into a tale of their own. Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  9. AnonymousMarch 10, 2013 at 8:54 AM

    You do a complete mashup of Jaws and Another One Bites the Dust, nah nah nah, slap me, I must be dreaming ;-) I am sure though that Freddie will forgive you.
    It never occured to me that you could combine the two prompts, you did grand job and produced something completely unique.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. HeidiMarch 12, 2013 at 2:50 AM

      Hi Tino!
      I hope he'll forgive me. I wanted to try to work some of the Jaws theme music into it as well, but I didn't have it in me. Thank you for stopping by and commenting.

      Delete
    2. HeidiMarch 12, 2013 at 2:57 AM

      And for it being such a cool comment!

      Delete
  10. UnknownMarch 10, 2013 at 4:35 PM

    Yikes! Jaws always scares me haha but that's a great Michael Jackson song. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. HeidiMarch 12, 2013 at 2:53 AM

      Hi Gretchen!

      Sorry about the scare! That movie was scary. (And don't tease me...Michael is fine, but this is Queen.:-})

      Thanks for the awesome prompt!

      Delete
  11. VictoriaMarch 10, 2013 at 9:54 PM

    All I have to do is hear the theme music to Jaws and...yikes. But your poem is so well done.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. HeidiMarch 12, 2013 at 3:05 AM

      (I replied and it disappeared...let's see if it magically reappears after I re-write it.)

      Hi Victoria!

      My sweetie-pies love sharks and see then in all kinds of architecture. At some point I must have sang the theme song to them, because now they sing it whenever they are discussing or discovering sharks. It has taken some of the menace out of the music for me.

      Thank you for stopping by and for the awesome comment. I am so glad that you enjoyed it.

      Delete
  12. Kathy ReedMarch 11, 2013 at 1:38 AM

    Very original...love the way you combined the two very different topics!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. HeidiMarch 12, 2013 at 2:59 AM

      Hi kkkkaty!

      (My mom loves that song!)

      Thank you for stopping by and commenting. I am so glad that you liked it.

      Delete
  13. UnknownMarch 12, 2013 at 12:13 AM

    very cool, love the way you used the words here. Also, I really got a lyrical sense to the piece, so nice to see a combination of both themes in one piece. Nicely done. Enjoyed. Thanks

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. HeidiMarch 12, 2013 at 3:02 AM

      Hi Fred!

      I thought Brian and Gretchen did a wonderful job giving prompts that could work together. This was so much fun to write and took me five hours! I didn't know that my attention span could last that long. I am so happy that you liked it. Thanks for coming by!

      Delete

Hi! Thank you for the visit! Grab a plate and a sweet tea and let's dig in. It may take a while, but I always try to reply and return visits.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)