For my roommate, Jonathan. So he has a
good fairytale to tell his niece in Germany at bedtime (to make sure
she stays under the covers … awoooo).
 |
| {diction} |
Werewolf, werewolf. Are you there,
wolf?
Want to catch you in my snare, wolf.
But if you're smart, you won't be
there, wolf
(you tricky-dicky little werewolf).
Werewolf, werewolf, loves the
moonlight.
Werewolf, is tha(?)-aatchoo! Gesundheit.
Werewolf – now I must be stealthy
(because the werewolf's bite's
unhealthy).
Werewolf's stronger, but
– I'm wiser.
Werewolf
ON MY NECK, OH SCHEISSE !!!
Still, I think you are a dumb one;
Werewolf, now I have become one. :(
 |
| (**Warning: Germans may seek retribution if you butcher their accents. ... & they may own stun-guns.**) |
I find it to be ironic that you have written this poem for a friend to keep his lovely daughter in her bed whilst in this poem the speaker is brave enough to conquer their werewolf. Although you wish to instill fear into the child with the werewolf as your antagonist, you have also given the girl a taste of heroism and self-sacrifice. Because of your comical diction (i.e. your casual change from English to German and your explosive punctuation!!!) the tone of the poem does not bring out the fear of the night and how by walking into the dark you may become absorbed into it: never to come out. On the contrary, because the flow of the poem changes from serious wolf-hunting, to comical human error, to slightly melancholy because of the bite, there is a feeling of joy to be able to overcome the fear of the werewolf: to in the end, survive. But for the little girl in Germany, I do not think it is a bad thing for her to become that brave wolf-slayer because she knows the wolf is dangerous, and will work her hardest not to be bit (and hopefully sneezing won't be her downfall).
ReplyDeleteHis NIECE -- don't freak my roommate out by telling him he has a child he didn't know about. You do understand that the werewolf BITES and CONQUERS the hunter at the end, right? Dunno how that's comforting and emboldening for a little child at night ...
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ReplyDeleteNiece. My mistake.
ReplyDeleteI did not see the death at the end of the poem. I read it to be that the man survives but is bitten by the wolf. Regardless of my misreading of his fatality, I believe there is a form of heroism that can be admired. The protagonist went after the werewolf ignoring (or naively calculating) his probable demise; either to prove a point and look good as a werewolf killer or to protected his child or niece, the man sought out the fearful beast. Human tragedy does have a hint of heroism, does it not? And that is why I believe this poem does not instill fear within me. Either interpretation creates a moral that the niece should follow: either not being foolish and following the dark or being brave to conquer fears regardless of the consequence.
Either way, this poem is kind of tongue-in-cheek ... I really just wrote it as an excuse to tease my roommate with my faux-German accent. (and the dude didn't "die"; he got werewolf-ized ... because he was being stupid and chasing a werewolf alone, at night, with a sneezing cold, apparently).
DeleteI hope the niece doesn't take that folly as an example -- but apparently, at two-or-so, she wasn't all that into it when she saw the video, either way. At least she didn't cry ... so I guess that's a point toward your reading ;)
I really enjoyed this. And it works! It almost lulled me to sleep not because I was bored but because the rime scheme is somewhat soft especially as the poem approaches the second stanza. The only part I am a bit confused on is the use of parentheses in lines 4 and 8. At first I imagined this being used by whomever is delivering the poem to then make an action out of it. For example, the line "(you tricky dicky little werewolf)" I imagined your roommate directly addressing his niece by pointing at her or playfully tapping her on the nose. I don't know maybe I'm off but it made the poem seem relatable. Also the use of "you" and "you're" makes me believe that the person to whom this is being read to is immediately involved with the speaker. As if the listener is the werewolf. Next, I found the ending to be somewhat ironic and comedic. The fact that the speaker thinks he or she is wiser than the Werewolf and that the Werewolf is "dumb" yet still gets attacked and bitten demonstrates the stupidity of the speakers actions more than those of the werewolf. And now that the speaker is turning into a werewolf, he must accepted his own designation and interpretation of a Werewolf's seemingly undesirable traits.
ReplyDeleteYes, irony.
DeleteI use parentheses to signify internal thoughts -- things that the narrators say to themselves, internal asides (dude, my eyes are blurry, I'll be glad to turn off this computer soon) <---like that.
On the surface, this poem is about a man who goes hunting for a werewolf. He foolishly thinks he can trap the werewolf because “Werewolf’s stronger, but - I’m wiser.” (9) The werewolf then attacks the speaker and turns him into a werewolf. The hunter’s downfall is a result of his hubris - he had so much confidence in his own wits that he underestimated the werewolf’s power. However, the speaker does not recognize his hubris because he still calls the werewolf “a dumb one.” (11) The speaker is actually the dumb one because he believed he could easily conquer the werewolf. The ending of this poem seemed very naturalistic to me because the natural (or in this case, the supernatural) world asserts power over the human.
ReplyDeleteThe title says that this poem is “a bedtime story,” a tale that one recites to children just before they go to bed. Often, bedtime stories involve a moral lesson that either teaches good behavior or warns about bad behavior. This poem is of the latter type. It cautions people about the dangers of excessive pride.
(And also, the blurred line between what we fear and what we are ... hate all you want, but you just might be in denial that you are what you're hating on.)
DeleteI didn't think of that theme while reading the poem, but I can kind of see it now. Thank you for posting this poem. I really liked how you rhymed "wiser" with "scheisse."
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ReplyDeleteI was very amused by this poem. It surprised me for multiple reasons, one being that it is different from most of the other poems you have published here, but also because of how much I enjoyed it. The rhythm and repetition seems so familiar to me, as if it were a children’s rhyme that I already knew. It also made me laugh, just because of its simplicity and innocence.
ReplyDeleteWhen you said that this poem was for your roommate's niece in Germany, I had to read it in a German accent. This was extremely satisfying as the word “Werewolf” is extremely phonetically pleasing in a German accent and something about that dialect to me brings a certain light-heartedness to an otherwise sad ending poem to make it a sweet, nighttime tale.
ReplyDeleteThis poem instantly stood out to me because of the contradicting title. As a babysitter I have read bedtime stories to kids in order to get them to fall asleep, but this one is unique. I felt fear while reading it. At the same time, the poem felt childish because it has a similar syntax to a Dr. Suess book. I felt these contractions be displayed well in the collage that goes along with the poem. To me the illustration feels chaotic because there are so many layers with different emotions being expressed going on within the collage. To me this is interesting because on the surface level of the poem, it seems very straight forward about a person describing a werewolf. However, when the poem is broken up into its four line stanzas, there are contrasting perspectives about the werewolf. In the first stanza, the person trying to catch the werewolf gives the werewolf credit for being smart. Then in the second stanza, the person wishes to stay strong because they know that the werewolf can harm their health. Finally in the third stanza, the person is condescending and acts better than the werewolf which contradicts the first two stanzas. Focusing more on the third stanza, the person gets bitten by the werewolf which connects to the foreground of the collage where a man is holding his neck and there is red shifting ink to represent blood. Although the poem is supposed to be a bedtime story and I don't believe I would have liked hearing this story as a small child, I appreciate the ending because to me it feels like the person who was trying to catch the werewolf received justice by getting bitten by the werewolf.
ReplyDeleteThis poem made me laugh but it also made me think about carelessness and about being careful and aware. A little dark but it makes me think of when parents tell their kids not to talk to strangers and in this new technological era what that means. Parents are having to navigate a whole different world and protect their children on a new level. Despite all the warnings, adolescents figure that something bad would never happen to them so they are careless and in the end it's always the ones who suspect it least that are the victims.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing it makes me think of is the idea of welcoming danger. This also fits hand in hand with the idea of carelessness. Attracting dangerous things even though they are bad for you. Sort of like the cliché in the dating world these days. There is a common theme of girls choosing guys who they know are not good and then somehow hoping that in their singular case the guy will be different even though nothing in previous instances should lead them to believe that. Its and endless cycle and a negative feedback loop that turns people heartless themselves.
Another funny thing is how the speaker is so haughty and speaks about how dumb the werewolf is but then he is bitten as he is saying this. Its like the tale of the rabbit and the hare teaching the lesson that you should never be too proud. The speaker does not seem to learn this lesson, though, because he just continues to say that he still thinks the werewolf is dumb.