“Poetry is idealized grammar” ~ Oscar Wilde

“Poetry is idealized grammar” ~ Oscar Wilde

An epigram is not required to be

Grammatically as logical as laws

Of science.  If the bon mot holds the key

To paradox, an ideal plants the cause

Of poetry in fields of richer loam

Although the weeds of words may interfere

Because of course a grammar isn’t home

To pure exactitude.  No, messy here

And there because of history’s blips, the rules

Are stupid sometimes, not at all like strict

Quadratic equations.  Teaching in schools

Ignores this truth.  Usages contradict

Attempts at neatness.  Wait. Maybe that means

That poetry and grammar share some genes.

Phillip Whidden