• Submit Poetry
  • Support SCP
  • About Us
  • Members
  • Join
Sunday, September 6, 2026
Society of Classical Poets
  • Poems
    • Beauty
    • Culture
    • Satire
    • Humor
    • Children’s
    • Art
    • Ekphrastic
    • Epic
    • Epigrams and Proverbs
    • Human Rights in China
    • Music
    • Performing Arts
    • Riddles
    • Science
    • Song Lyrics
    • The Environment
    • The Raven
    • Found Poems
    • High School Poets
    • Terrorism
    • Covid-19
  • Poetry Forms
    • Sonnet
    • Haiku
    • Limerick
    • Villanelle
    • Rondeau
    • Pantoum
    • Sestina
    • Triolet
    • Acrostic
    • Alexandroid
    • Alliterative
    • Blank Verse
    • Chant Royal
    • Clerihew
    • Rhupunt
    • Rondeau Redoublé
    • Rondel
    • Rubaiyat
    • Sapphic Verse
    • Shape Poems
    • Terza Rima
  • Great Poets
    • Geoffrey Chaucer
    • Emily Dickinson
    • Homer
    • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
    • Dante Alighieri
    • John Keats
    • John Milton
    • Edgar Allan Poe
    • William Shakespeare
    • William Wordsworth
    • William Blake
    • Robert Frost
  • Love Poems
  • Contests
  • SCP Academy
    • Educational
    • Teaching Classical Poetry—A Guide for Educators
    • Poetry Forms
    • The SCP Journal
    • Books
No Result
View All Result
Society of Classical Poets
  • Poems
    • Beauty
    • Culture
    • Satire
    • Humor
    • Children’s
    • Art
    • Ekphrastic
    • Epic
    • Epigrams and Proverbs
    • Human Rights in China
    • Music
    • Performing Arts
    • Riddles
    • Science
    • Song Lyrics
    • The Environment
    • The Raven
    • Found Poems
    • High School Poets
    • Terrorism
    • Covid-19
  • Poetry Forms
    • Sonnet
    • Haiku
    • Limerick
    • Villanelle
    • Rondeau
    • Pantoum
    • Sestina
    • Triolet
    • Acrostic
    • Alexandroid
    • Alliterative
    • Blank Verse
    • Chant Royal
    • Clerihew
    • Rhupunt
    • Rondeau Redoublé
    • Rondel
    • Rubaiyat
    • Sapphic Verse
    • Shape Poems
    • Terza Rima
  • Great Poets
    • Geoffrey Chaucer
    • Emily Dickinson
    • Homer
    • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
    • Dante Alighieri
    • John Keats
    • John Milton
    • Edgar Allan Poe
    • William Shakespeare
    • William Wordsworth
    • William Blake
    • Robert Frost
  • Love Poems
  • Contests
  • SCP Academy
    • Educational
    • Teaching Classical Poetry—A Guide for Educators
    • Poetry Forms
    • The SCP Journal
    • Books
No Result
View All Result
Society of Classical Poets
No Result
View All Result
Home Poetry Humor

‘Dihydrogen Monoxide’ by Andrew Joseph

February 16, 2015
in Humor, Poetry
A A
3
poems 'Dihydrogen Monoxide' by Andrew Joseph

A mysterious substance is ruling our lives.
It flows through our oceans and floats in our skies.
“It’s good for you,” cries four docs out of five.
It will keep your skin young for the rest of your life.
It will grow your corn tall and make your kids bright.
It will keep your drinks cold and improve your sight.
Believe me my friends, don’t be fooled by the hype.
There is something about this that does not seem right.
Why would the great praises of this stuff be sung?
When you breathe in too much, it can swell in your lungs.
When frozen it’s deadly, an Antarctic knife.
When used in some torture, they beg for their life.
So my dear friends I beg you, don’t fall for their ruse
and as for myself I don’t have to choose.
For I shall not be a mere sheep led to slaughter
Because I always prefer my whiskey to water.

 

Andrew Joseph is an aspiring writer and poet from Lima, Ohio. He does his best to squeeze in writing between working full time, and being a full time husband to his wife Julie and full time father to his 4 children.

Featured Image: “An Experiment on a Bird in an Air Pump” by Joseph Wright of Derby, 1768.

ShareTweetPin
The Society of Classical Poets does not endorse any views expressed in individual poems or commentary.
Read Our Comments Policy Here

RandomPoems

‘Pleasuring Dreams’ by P. T. O’Talryn
Beauty

A Poem on the Laundering of Drug Money, and Other Poetry by Rod Walford

September 17, 2020

  Lucrative On the Laundering of Drug Money As commodities go, you are harmless enough Whether tendered in coin or...

‘Seasong’ and Other Poetry by Mandy Moe Pwint Tu
Beauty

‘Seasong’ and Other Poetry by Mandy Moe Pwint Tu

June 15, 2014

Seasong I heard the wreathéd coral horn That Triton blew, and less forlorn Did suddenly I feel: I heard the...

Next Post
‘Monarch’ by Shari Jo LeKane-Yentumi

'Monarch' by Shari Jo LeKane-Yentumi

‘Sonnet on the Death of a Friend’ and Other Poetry by Pete Dashwood

'Sonnet on the Death of a Friend' and Other Poetry by Pete Dashwood

‘O Thou Fount of Joy, I Praise Thee’ and Other Poetry by Scáth Beorh

'O Thou Fount of Joy, I Praise Thee' and Other Poetry by Scáth Beorh

Comments 3

  1. Jeri says:
    12 years ago

    Cute and funny! Thanks for posting!

    Reply
  2. Gloria says:
    12 years ago

    A hilarious extended metaphor!

    Reply
  3. Martin Elster says:
    12 years ago

    Hi Andrew,

    This is an entertainingly droll poem! I love the jaunty anapestic meter. I found the last line a bit bumpy, though. Have you considered starting the line with “’cause” instead of “because”? Then you would have a nice anapestic pick-up:

    ’Cause I always prefer my whiskey to water.

    In any event, the last line is inspired. A fun poem!

    The title immediately attracted me, not just because of the dihydrogen monoxide hoax,
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dihydrogen_monoxide_hoax
    but also because I, too, once wrote a poem with that title:
    http://newversenews.blogspot.com/2014/09/dihydrogen-monoxide.html

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


  1. Nicole Hofmans on ‘The Cristero Centennial’: A Poem by Margaret CoatsSeptember 6, 2026

    I had no idea about the Cristero War before reading this, which sent me down a bit of a rabbit…

  2. Cheryl Corey on ‘Self-Exploration’ and Other Poems by Paul MillanSeptember 6, 2026

    Very nice poetry, Paul, and all very relatable. I especially like the first, although instead of distant shores, I have…

  3. Sashini Iroshini on How to Write Haiku: What Makes a Good Haiku?September 6, 2026

    Dancing of bamboo Cold winds blow, making music An evening dance floor. Bloom felt sleepy, but Fireflies like colourful light-…

  4. Jessica Vara on The Society of Classical Poets 2026 Haiku CompetitionSeptember 6, 2026

    I'd like to withdraw my entry, thank you

  5. Shima Asadian on The Society of Classical Poets 2026 Haiku CompetitionSeptember 6, 2026

    1. I will entrust my wounds to the hands of the wind from my own ashes, I rise. 2.Birth a…

Subscribe to Daily Poems

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 1,637 other subscribers

Recent Poems

  • ‘Self-Exploration’ and Other Poems by Paul Millan
  • ‘Victory’: A Poem by Jonathan Graver
  • ‘The Cristero Centennial’: A Poem by Margaret Coats
  • ‘A Potpourri of Aphoristic Verses’ by C.B. Anderson
  • ‘The Estuary’: A Poem by Jeff Eardley
  • ‘A World Without the Wednesday Child’: A Poem by Kimberly Fore
  • The 2026 Society of Classical Poets International Poetry Competition
  • The 2026 SCP International High School Poetry Competition
  • ‘Realistic Reflections’ and Other Poetry by Anna J. Arredondo
  • ‘China Made’: A Poem by Theresa Werba
  • ‘The Savage Moon’ and Other Poetry by Brian Yapko
  • Poetry Book Review: Love Found, Yearned For, and Lost by James A. Tweedie
  • ‘When Opportunity Knocks’: A Poem by Roy E. Peterson
  • ‘Legend of the Griffin’: A Poem by Iryna Hall
  • ‘Government Issue’ and Other Poems by Joseph S. Salemi
  • ‘Chaucer Announces His Desire to Retire’: A Poem by Paul A. Freeman
  • ‘Advantages of Restaurants’ and Other Poems by Russel Winick
  • ‘Bone China’: A Poem by Mary Gardner
  • ‘On the Death of One Too Young to Die’: A Poem by Jeffrey Essmann
  • ‘This Too Shall Pass’ and Other Poetry by Justin Dasher
  • ‘Humdrum and Harum-Scarum’: A Lecture on Free Verse, by Robert Bridges (1922)
  • ‘Unrest On the Floodplain’: A Poem by Bhikkhu Nyanasobhano
  • ‘Latitude and Loss’: A Poem by Martin Briggs
  • ‘Act III’ and Other Poetry by C.B. Anderson
  • ‘God’s Funeral’: A Poem by James Sale
  • ‘Star Festival’: A Poem by Margaret Coats
  • ‘Song of the Frog Princess’: A Poem by Scharlie Meeuws
  • ‘The Odyssey: Nolan and Solot Compared’: An Essay by Michael Curtis
  • ‘Solitude’ and Other Poems by Mary Jane Myers
  • ‘The River Not Taken’ and Other Poetry by Brian Yapko

Categories

  • Acrostic
  • Alexandroid
  • Alliterative
  • Art
  • Best Poems
  • Blank Verse
  • Chant Royal
  • Classical Poets Live
  • Clerihew
  • Covid-19
  • Deconstructing Communism
  • Educational
  • Epic
  • Epigrams and Proverbs
  • Essays
    • Interviews with Poets
    • Poetry Reviews
  • Featured
  • From the Society
  • Great Poets
    • Dante Alighieri
    • Edgar Allan Poe
    • Emily Dickinson
    • Geoffrey Chaucer
    • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
    • Homer
    • John Keats
    • John Milton
    • Robert Frost
    • William Blake
    • William Shakespeare
    • William Wordsworth
  • Human Rights in China
  • Limerick
  • Love Poems
  • Music
  • Pantoum
  • Performing Arts
  • Poetry
    • Beauty
    • Children's Poems
    • Culture
    • Ekphrastic
    • Found Poems
    • High School Poets
    • Humor
    • Riddles
  • Poetry Challenge
  • Poetry Contests
  • Poetry Forms
    • Curtal Sonnet
    • Haiku
  • Poetry Readings
  • Rhupunt
  • Rondeau
  • Rondeau Redoublé
  • Rondel
  • Rubaiyat
  • Sapphic Verse
  • Satire
  • Science
  • Sestina
  • Shape Poems
  • Short Stories
  • Song Lyrics
  • Sonnet
  • Symposium
  • Terrorism
  • Terza Rima
  • The Environment
  • Translation
  • Triolet
  • Video
  • Villanelle

Quick Links

  • About Us
  • Submit Poetry
  • Become a Member
  • Members List
  • Support the Society
  • Advertisement Placement
  • Comments Policy
  • Terms of Use

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Poems
    • Beauty
    • Culture
    • Satire
    • Humor
    • Children’s
    • Art
    • Ekphrastic
    • Epic
    • Epigrams and Proverbs
    • Human Rights in China
    • Music
    • Performing Arts
    • Riddles
    • Science
    • Song Lyrics
    • The Environment
    • The Raven
    • Found Poems
    • High School Poets
    • Terrorism
    • Covid-19
  • Poetry Forms
    • Sonnet
    • Haiku
    • Limerick
    • Villanelle
    • Rondeau
    • Pantoum
    • Sestina
    • Triolet
    • Acrostic
    • Alexandroid
    • Alliterative
    • Blank Verse
    • Chant Royal
    • Clerihew
    • Rhupunt
    • Rondeau Redoublé
    • Rondel
    • Rubaiyat
    • Sapphic Verse
    • Shape Poems
    • Terza Rima
  • Great Poets
    • Geoffrey Chaucer
    • Emily Dickinson
    • Homer
    • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
    • Dante Alighieri
    • John Keats
    • John Milton
    • Edgar Allan Poe
    • William Shakespeare
    • William Wordsworth
    • William Blake
    • Robert Frost
  • Love Poems
  • Contests
  • SCP Academy
    • Educational
    • Teaching Classical Poetry—A Guide for Educators
    • Poetry Forms
    • The SCP Journal
    • Books

© 2025 SCP. WebDesign by CODEC Prime.