APR 30, American satire (prolongation): criminal lying

 

We hope that you enjoyed this verse. You can find 40 more on this topic in 6 collections on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE to start! 

APR 29, exemplification: hillbilly

Authors' Note: It sure warn't easy to pack the whole bunch of neighbors and pals into a single verse. Sad to say, I had to leave out the following:  bumpkins, crackers, chawbacons, clodhoppers, good ol' boys, hayseeds,  and yokels. I'll include 'em next time! 

APR 28, defining opinion: cruddy

 Authors' Note: Trudy's definition seems to be skewed towards the achievement of cruddiness, downplaying inherent or intrinsic cruddiness. We await further reports.

Our blogpost "Defining Opinion" on the topic-based blog "Edifying Nonsense" shows a selection of similar verses submitted to OEDILF (the online Omnificent English Dictionary in Limerick Form). You can see all of these on one visit by clicking HERE.

APR 27, palinku (poetic novelty): London and Paris (Ontario)

palinku

palinku

\

(Ed. note:) Verses of this ilk have continued to proliferate, and there are now more than 50. You can view them all at one swoop if you proceed with a single click to our more encyclopedic blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE.

links for any date: scroll over to the calendar-based listings of 'Past Posts' in the righthand column on this page, choose your year and then month of interest, and then select (by clicking) the post of your choice.

APR 26, "pictures at a renovation": the second week

 PREVIOUS VIEWS:

You can follow the whole arduous undertaking by scrolling back through our earlier posts: (you can also click these dates for direct transport back to see the previous "pictures at a renovation"). The earlier posts show the demolition phase, and that may be of particular interest for many viewers.

April 18: reconstruction

April 16: demolition phase winds down (mostly)

April 10: demolition phase

April 6:   demolition phase

April 4:   demolition phase

March 31: demolition phase

And, check out the project-planning stage, elucidated in photos and verse, on March 19, and March 27.

front hall

kitchen

LR

 

DR

den

master BR

master bath
(shower construction underway)

APR 25, Carolina lowcountry: spring excursions

 
a) reprise from 2020

APR 25, Carolina lowcountry: further spring excursions

mallard drake

mute swan, Middleton Place

a green anole;
one of E.T.'s relations?

cycling under Spanish moss

woodstork near TV2 pond

TO SEE MORE STUFF: To see older or newer material  (posted daily, or at least on most 'good' days), CLICK below the Comments Section, on 'Older Post' or 'Newer Post'.

b) Giorgio's Lexicon of Binomials

APR 24, urban concerns: aged street tree

Authors' Note: This verse drew inspiration from the poem "Cuore di Legno" (Heart of Wood) by poet Primo Levi. In the poem, the narrator, an aged horse chestnut growing on a busy urban street, complains of, among other insults, being peed on by neighborhood dogs. 

APR 23, new world palindromes (#15,#16)

a) reprise from 2020

APR 23, new world palindromes (#15,#16)

You can view the entire collection of these 50 wordplay maps, by accessing the collection 'Tourists Palindromic Guides: The Americas'. Start by clicking HERE! 

b) Giorgio's Lexicon of Binomials 

APR 22, poetic non-sequitur: hope for victims of bullying

Authors' Note: We attended an inspiring book launch this afternoon. 

Our collection of 'Non-Sequiturs' on our parent blog "Edifying Nonsense", contains an unusual assortment of odds-and-ends, that don't quite fit into other topic-based offerings. But should you want to review the entire collection, click HERE.

APR 21, mammalian wildlife: a peek at elephant seals

Reminiscence from a year ago (somehow this didn't get posted back then):  

What we got to see at Año Nuevo State Park on our April '22 trip was a mass of seal pups, who had been heavily fed by their mothers and then abandoned  on the beach, while the mothers swim out to sea as usual on their long and lonely migration. The pups spend a lot of time sleeping off their recent huge intake of food, and after a few months make their own way, eventually, into the sea where they somehow cope with doing their own life-adventure, learning to swim, hunt and eventually to relocate their home beach, all miraculously without guidance.

It would be great to return in late fall to see the older males, who weigh up to 5000 pounds, when they return for annual breeding.

 

You can review a whole collection of illustrated verses about mammals (both domestic and exotic) by checking out the more extensive post on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE !

APR 20 (2023), singable satire: Elton John sings "DANTE's SONG" (Inferno, Canto 1a)

 PARODY-LYRICS

ORIGINAL SONG: "Your Song", Elton John, 1970.

ORIGINAL POEM: "Inferno" by Dante Alighieri, the first of 3 books constituting "The Divine Comedy" or "La Divina Commedia".

PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, April 2015.

PARODY-SONGLINK: To find ukulele and guitar chord-charts to help you accompany "Dante's Song" on your favorite instrument, click HERE.

Although Dante Alighieri wrote these poetic lines 700 years ago, they have received very little play on various parody-sites. Dante was a forerunner in his use of vernacular language (rather than Latin); based mainly on Tuscan dialect, his writings were critical in the development of modern Italian. To make the poetic lines singable, I had to take down Dante’s hallmark “terza rima” rhyming scheme (aba, bcb, cdc….), and rearrange it to a simpler aabb format. Other than this rearrangement, which leaves out some original lines, the lyrics for the beginning of the first Canto are primarily Dante’s. My English translation follows the Italian, with some adaptations for modern readers. Endless kudos are owing to the Pinsky translation, which inspired this effort.

Inferno, Canto#1a: DANTE'S SONG

(to the tune of "Your Song")

"Dark Wood"

detail of Dore engraving

Intro:

Put down words to “Commedia” sev’n centuries past,

My take on Life and after- seemed to take hold and last

Died exiled in Ravenna, but I guess I did well,

My gift is what we all think about Heav’n and Hell………

Dante:

Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita,

Che la diritta via era smarrita

Mi ritrovai per una selva oscura, a dir

Quanto e qual era è cosa dura.

It’s a little bit funny, but in the midst of life’s road,

I got lost on the path where I’d easily strode,

Found myself without money in a dark gloomy wood –

I’d use a GPS if only I could.

Questa selva selvaggia ed aspra e forte

Tanto è amara, che poco è piu morte –

Era tanto pien di sonno com’io v’entrai

Che la verace via abandonnai.

This unyielding woodland is wild and perverse

No place to get coffee, only death might be worse

Can’t say how I got here, seems I’ve used up my stash

That I’d thought of smoking near the jogging path.

Chorus(It.)

Ma dove terminava l’orribile valle

Vidi vestite di raggi le spalle d’un colle

La paura cheta, un poco cheta

Dopo notte di pièta

Per ogne calle mena dritto questa pianeta

Chorus(Eng.):

I spotted a billboard for a roadside motel

Where a fearsome trench ended at the foot of a hill

I’d had a bad night, my credit’s quite tight,

If I had enough cash

I’d get out of this sunlight, I need a place to crash.

E come quei che con lena affannata

Si volge all’acqua perigliosa e guata;

Uscito fuor del pelago alla riva,

       Dante nella Selva

W.Blake

Cosi l’animo mio ancor fuggiva.

Like an agent who’s landed and stripped off scuba-gear

007, no tuxedo, proceeding out of fear,

From depths to some hostile shore is what I really mean,

That’s the way that my soul appeared to be fleeing.

Si volse indietro, l’animo mio

Che ancor fuggiva,

A rimirar lo passo che non lasciò persona viva.

Fearing what to find, my passing-lane mind

Checked the rear-view mirror, then hurtled

Peering back at the passage that leaves the living world.

APR 19, curtained verse -- business agenda

 

a) reprise from 2020

APR 19, curtained verse: business agenda

 EDITORS' WARNING: You must be at least 12 years of age to read this post!

Authors' Note:  We hope and trust that Fran did actually check the age of her agents.

You can review other mildly scurrilous illustrated verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'Curtained verse: Faintly Obscene (Selected) Limericks' on the full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'.

b) Giorgio's Lexicon of Binomials

APR 18, "pictures at a renovation": reconstruction begins

 Yesterday, the project entered a new chapter in forward progress: At least in some rooms, the putting-together stage has begun. This started with  the front hall and kitchen, applying levelling cement over the underlying concrete slabs in preparation for tiling in the kitchen and hardwood installation in the front hall. The den remains the site of intense removal of 'popcorn ceiling'. 

 PREVIOUS VIEWS:

You can follow the whole arduous undertaking by scrolling back through our earlier posts: (you can also click these dates for direct transport back to see the previous views. The earlier posts show the demolition phase, and that may be of particular interest for many viewers.

April 16

April 10

April 6

April 4

March 31

front hall (watch your step!)
(wet levelling cement in place)

kitchen

LR/DR

LR, ready for some refinishing

den, ongoing intense ceiling restoration

APR 17, Ontario nostalgia -- across the Great Lakes

 
a) reprise from 2020

APR 17, Ontario nostalgia: across the Great Lakes

Authors' Note: The southern flank of the Canadian province of Ontario, abutting the border with the United States is a watery region comprised primarily of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River. The names of these lakes, and their order of progression to the Atlantic Ocean, are frequently covered in school curricula.

   Apart from flying, coming by ferry is the mode of access to the island province of Newfoundland for citizens of either Canada or the United States. The Confederation Bridge, 13 km in length, linking New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, has replaced ferry traffic to our smallest province since 1996.

   Tourism in most parts of Canada is highly dependent on Americans driving across the border. The industry has suffered a major depression in 2020 owing to restrictions related to the pandemic.

You can review the entire series of illustrated poems about  the good old days in Ontario by checking the post 'Ontario Nostalgia' on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE. 

b) Giorgio's Lexicon of Binomials

APR 16, "pictures at a renovation": demolition phase winds down

 The dramatic part of the demolition phase is winding down...

PREVIOUS VIEWS:

You can follow the whole arduous undertaking by scrolling back through our earlier posts: (you can also click these dates for direct transport back to see the previous pics. These earlier posts show the demolition phase, and that may be of particular interest for many viewers.

April 10

April 6

April 4

March 31

nd, check out the project-planning stage, elucidated in photos and verse, on March 19, and March 27.

LR
the floors throughout are now bare concrete

kitchen

the studio

exterior view

APR 15, the Charleston garden: Japanese yew

 a) reprise from 2020

APR 15, the Charleston garden: Japanese yew

UPDATE (2023): The property on the left no longer numbers among our real-estate holdings. See the recent posts on "Reconstructive Attitudes" showing views of an ongoing demolition/reconstruction project! 

You can review these illustrated verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'Poetry Praising the Charleston Garden' on the full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Click HERE!

b) Giorgio's Lexicon of Binomials