Real art is without irony. Irony distances the author from his material. Irony is a product of something. It's not the reason for doing something. Irony is a cheap shot.
quote by Robert Altman
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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A Natural Reaction
A reprobate? Who, me?
What's up with that?
Don't ask me to cozy up
and be your pal, please!
If I wanted, I could wreak
havoc on the whole crew!
By the way, can you define
irony for me?
Yes, I said irony!
I don't think you understand
the uses of irony, do you?
poem by Michael Pruchnicki
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Justify
To add justice,
I did not scream nor cry,
I instead called,
“Irony.”
Yes,
Irony.
The strange noun that bites and slaps when least expected.
So, to justify,
I called Irony.
I would like it to be shown, to the court at least, that I did nothing wrong,
nor nothing right.
I called his name,
when he was gone from sight.
I whispered my wisdom,
to a deaf and blind old fool,
I gave my only love,
To one who would never love at all.
So,
To justify,
I believe I did not lose,
I just didn't win.
That is often the case with irony.
poem by Kaitey Cat
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I Stop And Wait/For A Poem
I Stop And Wait/ For A Poem
I stop and wait
For a poem.
The poem does not come
The city says ‘Morning beauty’
The silence is a sadness unsayable -
Light is lovely
Isn’t it?
Irony Irony Irony-
I write these lines
As if I actually believe
I am writing poetry
And doing something.
poem by Shalom Freedman
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A taste for irony has kept more hearts from breaking than a sense of humor, for it takes irony to appreciate the joke which is on oneself.
quote by Jessamyn West
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Can't Really Get Enough Of Love Babe
once i have it, there is this irony, i give it away,
i wish, i dream, i work to have what i do not have yet
once it is in my hand, there is this irony, i throw it away.
the paradox of feelings, i had this joy, long time ago, and
i let it go, and i wish it comes back to me, like a memory of someone
too far away, i spend life like it is not life at all, i wish death, like death is life,
like it is not like, this is the irony of my life,
hating and loving and hating and loving, until, everything is gone
i have nothing and then i feel so complete.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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Irony of Things
It is an irony to believe that Ayothya
Is the birth place of Rama, as by the time
When Rama lived around 1450 B.C.,
Aryans never crossed Punjab or beyond.
It is an irony to say that Mathura
Is the birth place of Krishna, as by the time
When Krishna lived around 900 B.C.,
Aryans never reached up to Mathura.
It is an irony to establish that Durga,
A Dravidian origin, fostered later by Aryans,
Is the destroyer of Sura padman,
An asura, a co-dravidian, among Dravidians.
It is an irony that the very Dravidian
Movement has landed in the hand of a Brahmin
And then at a hand who too had mortgaged the interest
To Aryan for sake of his dynasty.
poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
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Wedded Bliss at Christmas Time
Irony of Ironies there is wedded bliss
The time of giving and receiving
The time to see the down-troddened, the disenfranchised
Opening presents with gleefulness
Bringing change to family systems
Whoa what a christmas
Enveloping riches, embracing harmony
Loving, hating, giving, receiving
Oh Irony of Irony
Lets celebrate the day withe gladness and joy
Gratitude and mercy
Finding unity in our family of choice
poem by Kimberly Anderson
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I think that you can fall into bad habits with comedy... It's a tightrope to stay true to the character, true to the irony, and allow the irony to happen.
quote by Ben Kingsley
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Prisoner
A misfit who is old before his time
Poverty has turned him to crime
Boredom gives him too much time to think
He pours another drink.
(chorus)
A burning, bitter taste of irony
A prisoner in the land of the free.
He wonders why his landscape looks so strange
Burger bars are home on the range
An empty bottle falling from his hand
He does'nt understand.
(chorus)
A burning, bitter taste of irony
A prisoner in the land of the free.
A cork unlocks the door to other lands
Of battles won and destinies in hand
A half-remembered state of liquid dreams
Where things aren't what they seem.
(chorus)
A burning, bitter taste of irony
A prisoner in the land of the free.
A naked savage dressed in shirt and jeans
A burning, bitter taste of irony
A prisoner in the land of the free.
(chorus)
A burning, bitter taste of irony
A prisoner in the land of the free.
song performed by by Ub40
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Irony of Love
Irony is a literary or rhetorical device.
The essayist Henry Watson Fowler wrote:
“any definition of irony
—though hundreds might be given,
and very few of them would be accepted—
must include this,
that the surface meaning
and the underlying meaning of
what is said are not the same.'
He left out that any definition of
Irony must include that it is cruel.
I never understood
The meaning of irony
Or how cruel it can be,
Until you told me,
That though you may love me,
You find it difficult to
Hear the words
“I love you” from me.
You see, some three years ago
You jokingly said
'I love you' to me,
And I begged you
Never to utter those words again.
Not because I did not want to hear them,
But because they were difficult for me.
They carried heart-felt consequences
That I did not want to face.
So, I shut out my heart and followed my head.
And in life filled with so many regrets,
It was the biggest mistake I ever made.
The irony,
After some thousand days have past,
You uttered the same
Imprudent sentiment to me.
This sentiment is the definition of irony –
The surface meaning
And underlying meaning are not the same.
Because although I asked you not to say
“I love you”,
It is all I wanted to hear.
The cruelty,
That now that heaven has at last
Blessed, cursed me with
Clarity of the heart,
And I want to say what I mean
With no different underlying sentiment,
You tell me you do not
Want to hear these words from me.
But the most ironic and cruelest part,
Will be,
If you make the same mistake I made
And keep from me what is within your heart.
poem by Hal Caufield
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This Is A Poem Without Irony or Ambiguity
THIS IS A POEM WITHOUT IRONY AND AMBIGUITY
This is a poem without irony and ambiguity -
Without any clever contradictions
Or wise paradoxes-
A simple straightforward expression of my gratitude to G-d
For the blessing of a grandchild born-
poem by Shalom Freedman
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The Gaiety Of Reflection
'Irony is the gaiety
of reflection
and the joy of wisdom.'
Anatole France (1844-1924)
ON that clear day
on that clear
pond
i see the face of irony
it is myself
and it is not myself
both
in the paradox
of belief and
disbelief
there is joy
in the wisdom
of acceptance
in the domain
of my own
laughter having
seen
what i am
and what i am not
what i ought to be
and what
i want to be
it makes sense
in this
loneliness.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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Prologue
The crucified planet Earth,
should it find a voice
and a sense of irony,
might now well say
of our abuse of it.
"Forgive them, Father,
They Know not what they do."
The irony would be
that we know what
we are doing.
When the last living thing
has died on account of us,
how poetical it would be
if Earth could say, in a voice floating up
perhaps
from the floor
of the Grand Canion
"It is done."
People did not like it here.
poem by Kurt Vonnegut from A Man without a Country (2007)
Submitted by Bogdan
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Song: Spell Out The Blues
There's no-one who's better,
Better than you!
No ruthless go-getter,
With the dumb luck of youth.
There's no-one who's better,
Better than you!
A fashion trend setter,
Who's never uncouth.
My life's such a clutter,
But what can I do?
I've pulled down the shutters,
And choked off the view.
The world is a gutter,
A foul smelling brew.
And my writings still stutter,
To spell out the blues.
Spell out the blues!
They spell out the blues!
All the words that I splutter,
Spell out the blues!
There's no-one who's better,
Better than you!
I'm your prisoner in fetters,
Though you're never cruel.
There's no-one that's better,
Better than you!
No grudge or vendetta,
To play me the fool.
There's no-one who's better,
Better than you!
I am dry cheddar,
While you are just smooth.
There's no-one that's better,
Better than you!
You sent me those letters,
So I'd walk in your shoes.
Walk in your shoes!
Walk in your shoes!
I'd pound out the leather,
And walk in your shoes.
My fragile self shatters,
Yet you flatter me.
My attention is scattered,
I fall to my knee.
How can it matter,
If satyr I be?
For I am the Mad Hatter,
Of sad irony.
A sad irony!
A sad irony!
Like metal I'm battered,
By a sad irony.
With a mind sharp as butter,
I ferret the clues.
A weird internet-er,
Who studies the news.
Some call me a nutter,
But I cannot lose.
When the words that I mutter.
Spell out the blues.
Spell out the blues!
They spell out the blues!
All the words that I utter,
Spell out the blues!
poem by David SmithWhite
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Ironic Disposition
Irony’s subtle lessons…
What a joke.
Irony doesn’t know subtlety.
It blatantly beats you senseless…
Mockingly
It revels in your sorrow.
It’s got me on speed dial.
I’ve been playing a song that doesn’t even want to be
Heard.
And it’s given me the music.
The one’s we’re closest to
Are its favorite tools.
It lets your fucking heart bleed all it’s got…
On the wrong altar.
It smirks when you take up that knife,
It knows you can’t.
It shows you a door you’re too smart to open.
But there are no other doors.
poem by Thom Isaacson
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The Cryptic Ripple Effect.
they always follow one after the other
the cryptic ripple effects of life
looking at the world in your own eyes and sense
with rebellious thoughts prevailing
that's the irony of life
one leads to the next
and the next.........
that it is,
a time bomb in every essence
its nothing without the universe
another day another withered flower
another hour that's stubborn and sour
life begins at the intersection
what direction when you burn to the core
what is left when we want more
time waits for no man
even the worthy they too have their story
'the irony of life
is that you will never get out of it alive! '
poem by Rodney Ticharwa
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Stolen Hearts of an Idealistic Cause
Stare at me I am the one,
Who stole your hearts,
And made a run,
For something I believed in,
Romantics will fall,
Beneath any writer's headstone wall,
as the publicists never cease to surprise,
A beautiful demise,
What Irony can be found,
In an American dream,
To love a life still left to hound,
At destiny's doorstep,
What life do we have,
Other that to help those in need,
To survive the three old blind hags,
Eager to cut your string
I dare you to take a stab,
At your own beliefs in your heart,
To find my irony,
My dreams,
My needs,
They are all for you to try and bring you out of the cave,
Your puppet masters put you in so long ago
poem by Trent Delomel
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Fate's Irony
I’m deep in love, with the girl of my dreams
Who’s deep in love with the guy of her dreams
As fate would have its’ sense of irony, it seems that guy is not me
Fate it seems loves to play tricks
Fate it seems has its’ own little hits
Irony is around us all around
Like the love of the one who is in love with another
Or the love of money when money is outmoted
But love will never be outmoted, just forgotten
Just Forsaken
Forsaken Irony, Forgotten Helms
Love is lost and new love found
Or for some of those unwilling to let go
Love is lost and the soul grows cold
Forsaking love and comfort
Caring or passion
It is darkened by the past, the ironic twist of fate
This once gentle soul now is black a night
This once soul of love is full of fright
But Not all is lost, for there is a remedy,
A cure to the pain, a cure for the forsaken
What that cure is I still do not know
I just hope I find it, so maybe I can grow old..
poem by Nathaniel Sickels
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Mute Requiem
Over there lies the body,
Of false hopes and unfulfilled desires.
It inspires only loathing
Silence, irony
Becomes it's only testimony,
Contrary to the envisioned outcome and the desired result
Pity, this final outcry for sympathy
Committed with such self-indulgent finality, is doomed to failure.
So pathetic, unreversable and blind...
Irony and contempt
For the failed life
Seems fitting of this Mute Requiem...
Emptiness cries out my name!
Emptiness cries out my name
In vain
As i turn my back and walk away
Maggots
Assemble
To begin their song.
song performed by by Quo Vadis
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Irony Of Nonexistence
Nonexistence flows from what is unpronounced,
the dried source of a watershed,
cisternal spaces in the head,
the prey at which no cat of Schrödinger has pounced.
Irony, the only way to coexist
with non-existence deconstructed,
like texts when reason is deducted,
is like frog prince that is begging to be kissed
Christopher Lehmann-Haupt reviews “For Common things: Irony, Trust and Commitment in America Today” (Alfred A. Knopf) by the 25 year old West Virginian, Jedediah Purdy. Purdy argues that irony such as that personified by Jerry Seinfeld, harms 'common things, ' by which he means all that is public, shared and ordinary. Thomas Carlyle wrote in 'Sartor Resartus': 'An ironic man, with his sly stillness and ambuscading ways, may be viewed as a pest to society.' The epigraph to his book comes from Czeslaw Milosz: 'What is unpronounced tends to nonexistence.'
I copy below the 9/9/99 Vorlage of this poem:
NONEXISTENCE
Nonexistence flows from what is unpronounced,
the dried source of a watershed,
cisternal spaces in the head,
the prey at which no cat has pounced.
9/9/99,11/8/09
poem by Gershon Hepner
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