Japanese Choka Poetry Room

A Modern Reader’s Lament

In tales of old, we find a timeless theme,

Of stories bogged down in backstory’s stream,

The pandemic’s weight, a heavy narrative load,

Drowning the plot where the mysteries flowed.

 

In pages filled with words, the past unveiled,

Characters’ histories, endlessly detailed,

But where’s the heart of the story’s core?

Lost in the depths of exposition galore.

 

Oh, for the days of MacDonald and Hammett’s pen,

When plots were crisp, and prose was lean,

Elmore and Chandler, masters of their craft,

Knew when to let character depth take a backdraft.

 

Hillerman’s landscapes painted vivid and grand,

Yet never did he lose the reader’s hand,

Parker’s Spenser, sharp as a knife’s keen blade,

Intrigue and action, the focus never swayed.

 

So let us return to the art of the tale,

Where words and plots set our hearts to sail,

For character development, a spice, not the stew,

During a pandemic, the story must break through.

 

No more septic tank woes and rose gardens fair,

Let the plot’s heartbeat lead us from despair,

In the realm of storytelling, let’s find our way,

And leave the irrelevant backstory’s dismay.

 

In the echoes of these literary greats, we’ll thrive,

With stories that captivate, and narrative alive,

No more drowning in a sea of character past,

In the heart of the plot, our adventure will last.

 

 

 

 

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