Orts #691

The Parrot and the Carrot one may easily confound,

They're very much alike in looks and similar in sound,

We recognize the Parrot by his clear articulation,

For Carrots are unable to engage in conversation.

     -- Robert Williams Wood, How To Tell The Birds From The Flowers (1917)

        http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1593/1593-h/1593-h.htm

O Cuckoo! shall I call thee Bird,

Or but a wandering voice?

     -- Wordsworth
State the alternative preferred
With reasons for your choice.

     -- F. H. Townsend

All bad poetry springs from genuine feeling.

     -- Oscar Wilde

Souse down into prose again, my Muse; for poetry is no more thy element, than air is of the flying fish; whose flights, like thine, are therefore always short and heavy.

     -- Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack, preface to the 1748 edition