I was on duty trying to entertain my eleven-year-old granddaughter when she came back from school.

She knows I am interested in words and poetry. When I started to broach that subject the response was one word -Boring.

I said to her that words are important. The words that you use say something about you. And of course choosing the best word and placing it in the appropriate location is always the aim of the poet.

Well, the one-word response was Boring. And then as though she wanted to emphasis her response she repeated Boring several times. You could say she created a one-word poem.

I guess this eleven-year-old finds grandfather totally boring. Wendy Cape was in that boring state with nothing creative on her mind. So she used that emotive feeling to create a boring poem.

Being Boring
'May you live in interesting times.' Chinese curse

If you ask me 'What's new?', I have nothing to say
Except that the garden is growing.
I had a slight cold but it's better today.
I'm content with the way things are going.
Yes, he is the same as he usually is,
Still eating and sleeping and snoring.
I get on with my work. He gets on with his.
I know this is all very boring.

There was drama enough in my turbulent past:
Tears and passion - I've used up a tankful.
No news is good news, and long may it last.
If nothing much happens, I'm thankful.
A happier cabbage you never did see,
My vegetable spirits are soaring.
If you're after excitement, steer well clear of me.
I want to go on being boring.

I don't go to parties. Well, what are they for,
If you don't need to find a new lover?
You drink and you listen and drink a bit more
And you take the next day to recover.
Someone to stay home with was all my desire
And, now that I've found a safe mooring,
I've just one ambition in life: I aspire
To go on and on being boring.

Wendy Cope (1945 -

Wendy Cape is renowned for her humorous poems. She is happy to be a cabbage. An appropriate metaphor. A cabbage just responds to soil and temperature. It can be a little annoying when the same friend always starts the conversation – “What have you been doing”.

What can I say, I hope you are coping (forgive the pun) with all that is happening in the world.

Wendy Cope on Wikipedia