OCT 21, philosophical ponderings, "me and my shadow"

 a) Reprise of material posted on October 21 in previous years ...

2020: insects, beer bugs (illustrated poem)  
2021: Toronto ravines, Moore Park (photo-collage)

2022: hellenophilia, Cretan gorges (illustrated poem) 
2023: decorative touches, diptych, abstract (fabric art)

To access the details of any item in slide format, type its title, as displayed above in red font (e.g. ... Cretan gorges), into one of the two search bars at the the top of your blog-page. Underneath the slide(s) for each entertaining delight that you discover, you will find a clickable link that lets you easily explore a more widespread collection of wonderments (verse, photos, wordplay, song-lyrics etc.) on the topic of your choice. 

b) Today's Offering (Oct 21, 2024):

me and my shadow 

OCT 20, singable satire: "CARNIVAL OF CHARLESTON"

 a) Reprise of material posted on October 20 in previous years ...

2020: singable satire, Rhyming Binomials M to Z (parody lyrics)
2021: singable satire, Star-Nosed Mole (parody lyrics) 
2022: singable satire, Ballad of Giuliani 2 (parody lyrics)
2023: singable satire (Inferno), The Pain of Lust (parody lyrics)

To access the details of any item in slide format, type its title, as displayed above in red font (e.g. ... Star-Nosed Mole), into one of the two search bars at the the top of your blog-page. Underneath the slides for each entertaining delight that you discover, you will find a clickable link that lets you easily explore a more widespread collection of wonderments (verse, photos, wordplay, song-lyrics etc.) on the topic of your choice. 

b) Today's Offering (Oct 20, 2024): 

PARODY LYRICS 

ORIGINAL SONG: "Carnival of Venice"  traditional song

PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, January 2014.
PHOTOS of the concert "Carnival of Venice", Charleston SC, by Uncommon Solutions

Charleston Post and Courier coverage of the inciting event

THE CARNIVAL OF CHARLESTON

a colleague of 'Rick Shaw'.
departing with tourists from a hotel

 (to the tune of "the Carnival of Venice")


Your rickshaw ride in Charleston
Can't explore that magic town;
The driver's only licensed
A - pick-up,  B -  set you down.

Official guides in Charleston
Have to pass exams and train; 
Rapt carriage-tour riders and foot-groups
Can't block ante-bellum lanes.

A pedicab lurks at your hotel,
Marks you for a heinous crime;
A sleazy eager historian
Who is keen to sell his time. 

To stamp out these nasty infractions,
Wired police devised a sting
Attired for entrapment as tourists
Massive fines recordings bring.

Few hours in scenic Charleston ?
Cruise-lined there by Carnival,
Snubbed by snobby South-of-Broad big-shots?
Don't treat 'Rick Shaw' as a pal.

If cruising past Fort Sumter
And re-boarding is a must,
Steer clear of Rick's tempting discussions - 
It might be a tourist bust.

Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor,
as proposed in an early painting

Concert of Venetian music in Charleston,
a patron admires the sets

 

OCT 19, duplication: fuddy-duddy

 

a) Reprise of material posted on October 19 in previous years ...

2020: Toronto ravines, Taylor Creek (photo-collage)  
2021: Carolina lowcountry, wildlife revisited 1 (photo-collage)

2022: Canadiana, seniors' hockey (poem) 
2023: decorative touches, abstract graphic (fabric art)

To access the details of any item in slide format, type its title, as displayed above in red font (e.g. ... seniors' hockey), into one of the two search bars at the the top of your blog-page. Underneath the slide(s) for each entertaining delight that you discover, you will find a clickable link that lets you easily explore a more widespread collection of wonderments (verse, photos, wordplay, song-lyrics etc.) on the topic of your choice. 

b) Today's Offering (Oct 19, 2024):

Authors' Note: 

(FUD-ee-dud-ee, or as a possibility here, fud-ee-DUD-ee); another example of a (re)duplication.

Readers willing to go down an internet rabbit-hole can easily get to a collection of more than a dozen other short verses SHORT VERSES  in which we have dealt with specific reduplications. 

If interested, readers can also discover three fairly lengthy PATTER-SONGS about this fascinating linguistic phenomenon. These songs form an important part of our cycle of 9 songs about "Word Pairs".

OCT 18, pinkos (forward thinkers): vegetarianism

  a) Reprise of material posted on October 18 in previous years ...

2020: waterfowl, Caribbean brown pelicans (illustrated poem folio)
2021: humorists' scurrilous talk, the 'cock' (poem) 
2022: reprehensible history, submarine warfare #3 (didactic collage)
2023: Toronto oases, on a golden pond (photo-collage)

To access the details of any item in slide format, type its title, as displayed above in red font (e.g. ... goose family), into one of the two search bars at the the top of your blog-page. Underneath the slide(s) for each entertaining delight that you discover, you will find a clickable link that lets you easily explore a more widespread collection of wonderments (verse, photos, wordplay, song-lyrics etc.) on the topic of your choice. 

b) Today's Offering (Oct 18, 2024):

Authors' Note: The authors, Ontario anapestrians, have not eaten meat in two decades. The restaurant scene in Ontario, as in some other world-wide destinations, has gradually become more hospitable to vegan and vegetarian preferences, such as Theresa's and the authors'. This development can be attributed in part to our influx of newcomers from south and east Asia. Meat-eaters can still be readily accommodated, however.

You can help save the planet by viewing all our verses in this series at "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE!

You can review all the poems in our collection "Pinkos: forward thinkers" by clicking HERE.

OCT 17, palinku (poetic novelty): 45th prez, 4/7

a) Reprise of material posted on October 17 in previous years ...

2020: palinku, fruits #1 (poetic novelty)  
2021: palinku, identity (poetic novelty) 
2022: palinku, restaurants  (poetic novelty)
2023: palinku, ethics (poetic novelty)

To access the details of any item in slide format, type its title, as displayed above in red font (e.g. ... ethics), into one of the two search bars at the the top of your blog-page. Underneath the slide(s) for each entertaining delight that you discover, you will find a clickable link that lets you easily explore a more widespread collection (verse, photos, wordplay, song-lyrics etc.) on the topic of your choice. 

b) Today's Offering (Sep 17, 2024): 

  In this post, we continue with our novel form of poetic wordplay. 

  Inspired by Japanese haiku poetry, the "palinku" is a terse verse with a total of 17 syllables displayed on three lines. Unlike its earlier English-language forerunners, this concoction does not mandate the precise distribution of the syllables among the three lines, but does stipulate that each word in the poem be included in a palindromic phrase or sentence  (i.e. one that can be read either forwards or backwards). 

  To help the reader discern the origin of the lyrics, each palindrome, generally occupying one of the three lines of the poem, has been color-coded. Readers will note that we have been publishing verses of this type on the 17th of each month.

  You can readily view all our verses of this type if you proceed with a single click to our more encyclopedic blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE. 

OCT 16, news update: a new unity

   a) Reprise of material posted on October 16 in previous years ...

2020: anagrams, US scramble-towns 11 (wordplay maps)
2021: anagrams, Canadian scramble-towns 9 (wordplay maps) 
2022: Ontario nostalgia, bunkie (illustrated poem)
2023: terminal exclamation, YIKES! (limerick variation)

To access the details of any item in slide format, type its title, as displayed above in red font (e.g. ... goose family), into one of the two search bars at the the top of your blog-page. Underneath the slide(s) for each entertaining delight that you discover, you will find a clickable link that lets you easily explore a more widespread collection of wonderments (verse, photos, wordplay, song-lyrics etc.) on the topic of your choice. 

b) Today's Offering (Oct 16, 2024):

OCT 15, Submitted Palindromes: RANDOM PILE #28

 a) Reprise of material posted on October 15 in previous years ...

2020: pandemic poetry, preventive cocktails (illustrated poem) 
2021: neologism, personal, POTUSA, abuelita latina (poem)

2022: Toronto ravines, mysterious lower East Don (photo-collage)
2023: decorative touches, Carolina lowcountry scenes (fabric art)

To access the details of any item in slide format, type its title, as displayed above in red font (e.g. ... goose family), into one of the two search bars at the the top of your blog-page. Underneath the slide(s) for each entertaining delight that you discover, you will find a clickable link that lets you easily explore a more widespread collection of wonderments (verse, photos, wordplay, song-lyrics etc.) on the topic of your choice.

 b) Today's Offering (Oct 15, 2024): 

  On the 25th of each month you will find a slide-filling group of palindromic phrases submitted to the editors by a panel of 7 palindromists. These folks have all been working on this project since January 2020. Their profiles are indicated in panels published here at the start of things, and then, we have asked them to provide (palindromically, of course) their views on one of the iconic items in the classic literature, starting with "A man, a plan, a canal -- Panama", and continuing with other well-known phrases, such as "Dennis sinned". Otherwise, their contribution will be grouped in random piles (a phrase that you might recognize as an anagram of the word p-a-l-i-n-d-r-o-m-e-s). 

OCT 14, US postal places: Green Bay, WI

 a) Reprise of material posted on October 14 in previous years ...

2020: Toronto ravines, Humber River Valley, 1 (photo-collage) 
2021: literature survey course, The Raven, Poe's epic poem

 (illustrated poem)

2022: doctors and practices, retiring dermatologist (poem)
2023: Toronto ravines, Humber River Valley, 3 (photo-collage)

To access the details of any item in slide format, type its title, as displayed above in red font (e.g. ... The Raven), into one of the two search bars at the the top of your blog-page. Underneath the slide(s) for each entertaining delight that you discover, you will find a clickable link that lets you easily explore a more widespread collection of wonderments (verse, photos, wordplay, song-lyrics etc.) on the topic of your choice.

 b) Today's Offering (Oct 14, 2024): 

Authors' Note: WI is the official abbreviation for the American state of Wisconsin, in which the city of Green Bay, population 110,000, is situated. Founded in 1634 as a French trading post, this settlement on the northern part of Lake Michigan was known in its earlier days as La Baie Verte. Today it is best known as the home of the football team "Green Bay Packers"; activities of the city's priesthood are described in the poem Holy Communion by OEDILFian contributor Chuck Folkers.

 

At one swell foop, you can review all our postal poems about intriguing places in the USA and Canada, by proceeding to the encyclopedic blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE !

OCT 13, barely believable: bears up close!

  a) Reprise of material posted on October 13 in previous years ...

2020: mammalian wildlife, beavers, Rod the sculptor (poem)
2021: mammalian wildlife, batty idioms (illustrated poem)
2022: numbers, baker's dozen, bark mitzvah (poem)
2023: decorative touches, Ontario Lakeland Scene (fabric art) 

To access the details of any item in slide format, type its title, as displayed above in red font (e.g. ... batty idioms), into one of the two search bars at the the top of your blog-page. Underneath the slides for each entertaining delight that you discover, you will find a clickable link that lets you easily explore a more widespread collection of wonderments (verse, photos, wordplay, song-lyrics etc.) on the topic of your choice. 

fabric art, R.C.H.

Hint for readers: to enlarge any photo or slide in these presentations, click on it, then follow the thumbnails at the bottom of the post. To exit this enlarged mode, don't panic, but CLICK on the small 'x' at the upper right of the black background field.

b) Today's Offering (Oct 13, 2024): 

  Apparently, the brown bear (Ursus arctos) is in many circumstances, less territorial, less aggressive, and less dangerous to humans than its relatives, members of the physically similar subspecies, the grizzly bears (Ursus arctos horribilis). 

  In Alaska, coastal brown bears, especially those growing up in national parks near the southern coast, become tolerant of the presence of humans, as shown by these photos from an expedition there, as recently obtained and kindly offered for viewing here by my wildlife-photographer buddy Bill Wingfield. 

photos by Dr. William Wingfield,
Lake Clark National Park,
Alaska, August 2024.
Thanks, Bill !

OCT 12, portraits of couples: skeletal spectres

  a) Reprise of material posted on October 12 in previous years ...

2020: Toronto ravines, salmon run on the Humber (photo-collage)
2021: portraits of couples, loons (poem) 
2022: singular plurals, pluralia tantum, rural plurals (poem)
2023: portraits of couples, mute swans (photo folio)

To access the details of any item in slide format, type its title, as displayed above in red font (e.g. ... loons), into one of the two search bars at the the top of your blog-page. Underneath the slide(s) for each entertaining delight that you discover, you will find a clickable link that lets you easily explore a more widespread collection of wonderments (verse, photos, wordplay, song-lyrics etc.) on the topic of your choice. 

jumping salmon

Hint for readers: to enlarge any photo or slide in these presentations, click on it, then follow the thumbnails at the bottom of the post. To exit this enlarged mode, don't panic, but CLICK on the small 'x' at the upper right of the black background field.

b) Today's Offering (Oct 12, 2024):  

You can view all of our folio-photos from the collection of 'Couples' portraits in a wider context on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE.

OCT 11, cinematic guide: George Formby's films and songs

  a) Reprise of material posted on October 11 in previous years ...

2020: Canadiana, Canadian Thanksgiving (illustrated poem)
2021: garden intruders, gnome travel-adventures (poem) 
2022: patients and maladies, the hoarder (poem)
2023: Ontario nostalgia, stormy Ashbridge's Bay (illustrated poem)

To access the details of any item in slide format, type its title, as displayed above in red font (e.g. ... hoarder), into one of the two search bars at the the top of your blog-page. Underneath the slides for each entertaining delight that you discover, you will find a clickable link that lets you easily explore a more widespread collection of wonderments (verse, photos, wordplay, song-lyrics etc.) on the topic of your choice. 

b) Today's Offering (Oct 11, 2024): 

Authors' Note: Perhaps the best-known song by British singer, actor, comedian and consummate ukulele artist George Formby, Jr. (1904–1961) was "When I'm Cleaning Windows." The song appeared in the 1936 film Keep Your Seats, Please; initially banned by the BBC, the song was later revealed to be a favorite of the royal family. 

online photo as displayed in "Ukulele Magazine"

In his films, Formby portrayed a good-natured but incompetent little man from rural county Lancaster, with songs interspersed throughout in which Formby, his character "laced with shy ordinariness", sings while accompanying himself adroitly on ukulele or banjo. Apparently, the Beatles, particularly George Harrison, were among the musicians influenced by Formby's performances. 

OCT 10, singable satire: "PEN OF RABBITS" (non-hunters' martial melody)

  a) Reprise of material posted on October 10 in previous years ...

2020: hellenophilia, Cyclades Islands, Greece (poem - 'brief saga')
2021: exemplification, ablauts, verb past-tenses (poem - 'brief saga') 
2022: organic brain poetry, metabolic delirium (poem - 'brief saga')
2023: ambulatory verse, creep and its variants (poem - 'brief saga')

To access the details of any item in slide format, type its title, as displayed above in red font (e.g. ... Cyclades Islands), into one of the two search bars at the the top of your blog-page. Underneath the slides for each entertaining delight that you discover, you will find a clickable link that lets you easily explore a more widespread collection of wonderments (verse, photos, wordplay, song-lyrics etc.) on the topic of your choice. 

Harlech castle, Wales

b) Today's Offering (Oct 10, 2024): 

PARODY-LYRICS

ORIGINAL SONG: "Men of Harlech", traditional Welsh hymn

PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, August 2013.

Charlotte Church, child diva
 sings "Men of Harlech"

PEN of RABBITS

(to the tune of "Men of Harlech")

Welsh 'rarebit';
no rabbits harmed 

Singable Introduction:
Still today caer Harlech perches,

Dominating YouTube searches - 

Startling, stirring [1], song of Church's

Steals your breath away.

Here’s a song about Welsh Rare-bit, 

Squarely dealing with the hare-bits --

Seen on fare-bills quite a fair bit,

Patrons seem perplexed.

Rabbit Welsh –- offensive nomen-

-clature used by Saxon foemen ?

“No Welsh eats, but cheese and dough, man,

‘less they poach some game.” [2]

Meat-free choice? Just ask your hostess,

Beer-and-cheese-melt over toast; its

Celtic fans applaud and boast, it’s

Cambria’s national dish.

Some meat-shunners might eschew it

Thinking it a hunter’s stew –- but 
It lacks lagomorphs [3], that’s true –- Bugs

Outwits Elmer Fudd!

Rare-bit search is Brasch’s [2]

Hare terse-verse is Nash’s [4]                 

‘HoJo’ wrote the spoof ‘Woad Ode’ [5]

Coniglio [6] penned some flashes.

Hail a dish that harms no hopsters;

Not how Newberg hassles lobsters,

Fwycassees can fweak out sqwabsters --

Free the Cornish hen!

Easter rabbit hunt, New Zealand

Sadly, elsewhere, butchered rabbit

Satisfies game-lovers’ habits;

Easter special –- Braised Brunch-Basket:

Bunny-love abused.

Hard life in the burrows,

Where bereavement’s thorough.

Peters sad, their mom or dad

Got skewered for lunch ‘al burro’ [7].

Hail a world that harms no hopsters,

Fricassees make quail no squabsters,

Calves should escape escalope, sirs !

Peace in field and warren !

[1] Charlotte Church aged 13, recorded the traditional ‘Men of Harlech’, 1998.

[2] Dr R. Brasch discusses the origins of ‘Welsh rarebit/rabbit’ in ‘How Did It Begin’ , MJF Books, 2006.

[3] herbivorous mammals in a zoologic order which includes rabbits and hares.

[4] Ogden Nash’s well-known 2-line poem, ‘The Rabbits’

[5] Best-known spoof on the song: a Boy-Scout song based on the tradition among ancient Britons of fighting naked in woad dye, by Eton housemaster W. Hope-Jones, 'HoJo', 1921

[6] Coniglio: name derived from the Italian word for rabbit 

[7] culinary term in Italian for 'prepared in a butter sauce'

\

OCT 9, higher connections: haredim

 a) Reprise of material posted on October 9 in previous years ...

2020: poets' corner, authorly skill (poem)
2021: bottom-line humor, borborygmi (poem) 
2022: waterfowl, black skimmers (illustrated poem)
2023: birdlore, pigeon-porn, billing and cooing (illustrated poem)

To access the details of any item in slide format, type its title, as displayed above in red font (e.g. ... borborygmi), into one of the two search bars at the the top of your blog-page. Underneath the slides for each entertaining delight that you discover, you will find a clickable link that lets you easily explore a more widespread collection of wonderments (verse, photos, wordplay, song-lyrics etc.) on the topic of your choice. 

pigeons

b) Today's Offering (Oct 9, 2024): 

Authors' note: 

(khah-ray-DEEM)

Various groups of strictly Orthodox or haredi (khah-RAY-dee) Jews represent an expanding demographic in Israel, assembling in particular neighborhoods (such as the suburbs of Jerusalem) where they carry out their lifestyle, rejecting and disdaining the secular environment, preferring a world characterized by observance of laws derived from the Torah (Bible). Their traditional dress reflects the groups' roots in 19th century Ashkenazi religious communities in eastern Europe. The name (the plural noun form) originates from a biblical reference to those who tremble at the word of God.

With large families (averaging 7 children per woman), these groups made up 4% of Israeli citizens in 1980, and 13% in 2021.

Readers can view our collected verses dealing with 'higher connections' by clicking HERE.