A brief history of poetry according to Peter Solis Nery, Part 1

THE beginning, humans said “Ahhh!”

Then, they said, “Aaaagay!” And “Oh!” And then, they pieced them together —

“Ahh-aaagay-aaagay! Aragaaaay, Aragaaaaay! Oh!” “Oh! Oh! Ohhhhhhhhhh...” E-I-E-I-O! And the earliest cave people were pleased. And they felt it was good. Then, humans invented words.

* And phrases. Like “sun” and “night” and “kiss”. And “eat my sh*t”. Among many other words and phrases.

And they started playing with word combos like happy meals.

* “Kiss me, kick me, kiss me quick.” “The man named Dick has a very big dick.”

“She sells seashells by the seashore.”

“So where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?”

Humans enjoyed the sounds of words.

They enjoyed the pleasure of words in their mouth.

On their lips. At the tip of their tongues. In their ear.

* Some enjoyed words just by listening.

And sometimes, listening made them dance. Or horny. But others enjoyed inventing new words.

Or stringing them together in a new inventive way. Oh. Oh my! Oh, my God! OMG! Soon, humans started having fun with words. They made rhymes and songs.

* They chanted their stories. They sang lullabies.

They told their experiences and dreams. And sex escapades! Old McDonald had a farm? E-I-E-I-O! They also sang of their love.

For the maiden who lived in a kingdom by the sea.

And their poems even wept for the beautiful Annabel Lee. Because of the rhymes and

* rhythmic meter, they remembered the story and the words better.

That’s the popularity of the oral tradition.

They who lived before us were pretty oral.

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