Christmas Poems

On Broadway it is still considered bad style for a lyricist not to rhyme perfectly. Not so in the world of pop: do you remember the Kim Carnes song вЂBette Davis Eyes’? How’s this for assonance?She’s ferociousAnd she knows justWhat it takes to make a pro blush Yowser! In the sixties the Liverpool School of poets, who were culturally (and indeed personally, through ties of friendship) connected to the Liverpool Sound, were notably fond of assonantal rhyme. Adrian Mitchell, for example, rhymes size with five in his poem вЂFifteen Million Plastic Bags’. The poets you are most likely to find using assonantal slant-rhymes today work in hip-hop and reggae traditions: Here’s вЂTalking Turkey’ by Benjamin Zephaniah. Have fun reading it out Г  la B.Z.–Be nice to yu turkeys dis christmasCos’ turkeys just wanna hav funTurkeys are cool, turkeys are wickedAn every turkey has a Mum.Be nice to yu turkeys dis christmas,Don’t eat it, keep it alive,It could be yu mate, an not on your plateSay, вЂYo! Turkey I’m on your side.’I got lots of friends who are turkeysAn all of dem fear christmas time,Dey wanna enjoy it,dey say humans destroyed itn humans are out of dere mind,Yeah, I got lots of friends who are turkeysDey all hav a right to a life,Not to be caged up an genetically made upBy any farmer an his wife ...»