AUG 17, palinku (poetic novelty): veggies #1 and #2

 

    In this post, we are introducing a novel form of poetic wordplay, the details of which are displayed on the accompanying slide. 

  The name reflects its derivation from a European take on Japanese poetic concepts; most of us learned a smattering of haiku poetry in elementary school. But the format we are presenting today is strongly influenced by palindromes. This form of wordplay is a concoction that can be found in both English and Japanese, and has been the basis of study, wonderment and amusement by scholars and word-nerds. The very different structure of the two languages makes the incorporation of wordplay into poetry unique in each case. We were delighted to learn recently that palindromic sentences, known as kaibun are found relatively frequent in Japanese; the phenomenon is enhanced by the fact that there a fair number of single-word palindromes in the language.   

   And, just in case you have forgotten what palindromes are about in English, your blogsite hosts have arranged a serial set of brief lessons on the topic ('Political Palindromes') which you can review by clicking HERE. 

Tricky wordplay verse: struggle to perfect. Delight when complete. 

  

You can view all our "palinku" verses if you proceed with a single click to our more encyclopedic blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE. (Or if you prefer, you can stay on this particular blogsite and look for the offerings for the 17th day of each month -- there are now more than 60 of these.)