The thing about Poetry. so I've been getting into reading (and reflecting on) more poetry lately. And I saw something interesting--you know, that Larkin poem, "They f- you up, your mum and dad / They may not mean to, but they do"?--the other day Rachel Maddow→[More:]

Tweeted this:

NYT almost commits accidental haiku: "They frizz your hair, these humid days. They do not mean to but they do" http://goo.gl/DwXsBp

So she wasn't aware that it was a rewriting of the Larkin line, but what's funny is that the sound of Larkin's poetry--through his meter, repetition, diction, whatever it is--came through so strongly to Maddow that she saw this sentence, uprooted, reshaped and de-contextualized, and still thought to herself: "this sounds very close to poetry." The rhythm is too strong.