Classic and Contemporary Poetry
VOLAPUK, by BENJAMIN FRANKLIN KING Poet's Biography First Line: When I can speak Last Line: Volapuk. Alternate Author Name(s): King, Ben Subject(s): Language; Travel; Words; Vocabulary; Journeys; Trips | ||||||||
WHEN I can speak Volapuk, Away to India's clime's I'll sneak, And on my adamantine cheek I'll sell a piano to a sheik. I'll sell the French and Dutch, And lease Pianos to the Portuguese; Then I'll drive over and explain The new installment plan to Spain. I'll journey south as far As Cadiz, And sell fair Andalusia's ladies Or I'll exchange; the mandolin I'll take, and put an upright in. I'll hie me then To Baltic strand, And sell Miss Boskovitch a grand; And shovel off old Peter Katzski, Romanoff and Ruffonratsky. Then far to Greenland I will go, And sell the sawed off Esquimaux; I'll eat snow soup and Polar bear, And try and work 'em on a square. Of course by this time I'll have a Cheek as hard as Hecla's lava; I'll travel West, go through Alaska, Drop down and talk with Mrs. Chaska. I'll court the Fijis On their isle, The old chief's daughter I'll beguile, And talk piano by her side While I am waiting to be fried, When I can speak Volapuk. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...RICHARD, WHAT'S THAT NOISE? by RICHARD HOWARD LOOKING FOR THE GULF MOTEL by RICHARD BLANCO RIVERS INTO SEAS by LYNDA HULL DESTINATIONS by JOSEPHINE JACOBSEN THE ONE WHO WAS DIFFERENT by RANDALL JARRELL THE CONFESSION OF ST. JIM-RALPH by DENIS JOHNSON SESTINA: TRAVEL NOTES by WELDON KEES TO H. B. (WITH A BOOK OF VERSE) by MAURICE BARING THE PESSIMIST by BENJAMIN FRANKLIN KING |
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