JUL 30, singable satire: W-I-P

JUL 29r, Toronto ravines: Cedarvale

 

a) reprise from 2020

JUL 30, Toronto ravines: Cedarvale Ravine

 

If you are interested in winding your way through an encyclopedic collection of four blogposts stuffed with photo-collages on Toronto ravines, click HERE.

b) Giorgio's Lexicon of Binomials (reduplications I-L)

Quite a few reduplications (words consisting of two near-duplicated elements) have been highlighted in other short verses by the authors:  

Matching the selection on the above slide, these include ......... 

You can easily find all of these on our topic-based blog "Edifying Nonsense" by clicking HERE, and following the links. 

JUL 28r+/-, insects: DEET insect repellent

 

a) reprise from 2020

JUL 28, insects: insect repellents (DEET)

 

Authors' Note: The full name of the chemical is in fact N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide

You can review Giorgio's other verses about pesty and occasionally beneficial insects, as  collected in 'Buzzwords: Verses about Insects' on the full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE.

b) Giorgio's Lexicon of Binomials (reduplications Ho-Hu)

Quite a few reduplications (words consisting of two near-duplicated elements) have been highlighted in other short verses by the authors:  

Matching the selection on the above slide, these include "holus-bolus", "hotspot" and "hubba-hubba"...........

You can easily find all of these on our topic-based blog "Edifying Nonsense" by clicking HERE, and following the links. 

JUL 27, Carolina lowcountry: sundown at Shem Creek

 

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'.

JUL 26r, magical canal palindromes: far-flung venues

 

a) reprise from 2020

JUL 26, magical canal palindrome --  more far-flung venues

 

You can become an expert fan of our wordplay concoction 'magical palindromes' by reviewing the explanatory material found in ancient days on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense" HERE; then, you could check how we applied this technique to 'canal palindromes' by viewing this more recent post.

b) Giorgio's Lexicon of Binomials (reduplications H-Ho)

Quite a few reduplications (words consisting of two near-duplicated elements) have been highlighted in other short verses by the authors:  

Matching the selection on the above slide, these include "harum-scarum", "helter-skelter", "hillbilly", "hobo", "hocus-pocus", "hodge-podge", and "hubba-hubba". 

You can easily find all of these on our topic-based blog "Edifying Nonsense" by clicking HERE, and following the links. 

JUL 25, Submitted Palindromes: Introduction to presenters -- Pedro, the Goofy 'Dromer

 You have reached the "Submitted Palindromes" thread, on the blog "Daily Edifying Nonsense", a light literary entity that emanates through the blogosphere daily (almost), i.e. 30 times per month.

  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). 

JUL 24r, Ontario nostalgia: Toronto ravines (poem)

 

a) reprise from 2020

JUL 24, Ontario nostalgia: Toronto ravines (poem)

Authors' Note:  Glacial can be pronounced with either 2 or 3 syllables. Here, the word has the meaning of 'produced by, or related to a glacier’. 

  Geologists tell us that during the Wisconsin glaciation, the ice-sheet scooped out soft rock and pushed the piled-up debris, sand and gravel, southward towards Lake Iroquois, the precursor of Lake Ontario. Twelve thousand years ago, with the ending of the ice-age, meltwater from the Laurentide Glacier eroded the channels that became the basis of Toronto's system of ravines.

If you are interested in winding your way through an encyclopedic collection of four blogposts stuffed with photo-collages on Toronto ravines, click HERE.

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 (reduplications F-G)

Quite a few reduplications (words consisting of two near-duplicated elements) have been highlighted in other short verses by the authors:  

Matching the selection on the above slide, these include "fuddle-duddle" and "fuddy-duddy". 

You can easily find all of these on our topic-based blog "Edifying Nonsense" by clicking HERE, and following the links. 

JUL 23, Carolina lowcountry: various suburban wildlife

fawn in Mt Pleasant subdivision

realistic guard-alligator (concrete)

well-camouflaged crab on stony path

juvenile black-crown night-heron

young green anole

Anerican green tree frog

 

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'.

JUL 22, patients and their maladies: nervous bladder

 

Authors' Note: Final requests have also been discussed here by speedysnail.

You can view collections of verses on this topic by proceeding to "Nurse-Verse: PATIENTS and their MALADIES" on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE!

JUL 21, terminal (poetic) exclamation: KA-POW!

Authors' Note: 

Ka-pow! (variant kerpow!): comic-book type interjection for a noise emitted when a blow is landed in a fight (often involving a super-hero)

Line 6: occasionally used sixth line of a limerick, unheard of in the early days of the modality, finding some currency among modern authors. See our poem on  "Addendum-icitis" HERE. 

The limericks written by Edward Lear and his contemporaries a century ago often included repetition of the poem's key word at the end of the final line.

You can review our collection of poems on the topic of "Terminal Exclamation (Limerick Variations)" as it evolves on our more encyclopedic blog "Edifying Nonsense"; click HERE.  

JUL 20, singable satire: Gordon Lightfoot sings "A TRIP DOWN THE ACHERON RIVIERA"W-I-P

PASTICHE with PARODY SONG-LYRICS.

ORIGINAL POEM:  "Inferno" by Dante Alighieri, the first book in the triad "The Divine Comedy", written in the early 14th century.
ORIGINAL SONG: "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald", 1976 by Gordon Lightfoot, used primarily for music and meter.

PARODY COMPOSED: Archaic quasi-Italian and English lyrics by Giorgio Coniglio, May 2015.

PARODY-SONGLINK: To find ukulele and guitar chord-charts to help you accompany "A Trip Down the Acheron Riviera" on your favorite instrument, click HERE.

Charon herding souls onto his boat
"The Last Judgment" Michelangelo

Charon herds souls of the damned.
Painting by Gustave Dore, 1890. 

"The Vestibule of Hell
 and the Souls Mustering
 to Cross the Acheron River"
William Blake 1827.

The Italian lyrics for this revised Canto are primarily Dante’s. Some lines were re-arranged, but to the extent possible the original 14th century Tuscan language was preserved. My English translation follows the Italian, with liberal adaptations for modern readers.
See also the collaboration of G. Lightfoot and W. Shakespeare in my post of Aug '14  

A TRIP DOWN THE ACHERON RIVIERA

(to the tune of "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald")

Intro:

Accounts linger on from Old Testament on down

Of the fiery pit Jews call Gehenna.

You probably knew that our Dante passed through,

And the year Thirteen Hundred was when-a.

“Giustizia mosse il mio alto fattore

Facemi la divina Podestate

Per me si va ne l’etterno dolore

Lasciat’ ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate.”

The tour started badly, we recount to you sadly,

With a big screen predicting the weather,

“At this Rehab-resort, no rainstorms to report –

And you’ll surely be roasted for ever.”

Dante:

Queste parole di colore oscuro

Vid’io scritte al sommo d’una porta.

Per ch’io: “Maestro il senso lor m’e duro.”

Elli: “Qui ogne viltà sia morta.”

The ‘agreement’ on monitor, in font and hue somber

Conflicted with my inner wish-list.

“This Hotel,” it is said, “never gives up her dead.”

Virge explained, “Here all fear is extinguished.”

Virgil (sotto voce):

Siam venuti al loco ov’i’t’ho detto

(E poi che la sua mano a la mia puose),

Qui si convien lasciare ogni sospetto

(E poi mi mise a le segrete cose).

Pretend you’re a dope, play along, give up hope,

They are only programmed to receive here;

We’ll pay cash when we checkout, then we’ll get the heck out

With these exit-wristbands up our sleeves, here.

Dante:

Quivi sospiri, pianti e alti guai

Risonavan per l’aere sempre tinta

Per ch’io al cominciar ne lagrimai

Alla gente par duole sì vinta.

In Fore-Hell, dark the air with deep sighs and despair

- Swarms of tormented waverers squealing.

This sight was so creepy, it made me quite weepy,

But old Virgil was not too revealing.

Dietro a una ’nsegna sì lunga tratta venia

Di gente, ch’i’ non averei creduto

Un’ombra ho riconosciuto, che fece il gran rifiuto

La fama e giustizia lo sdegna.

Stung by insects (no DEET), whirled one shade I did meet,

Celestine, who’d St. Pete’s Seat vacated,

Crewed for the apathetic, chased banners, frenetic.

His successor – B. 8^{th *}, was well-hated.   

   

This helpful map shows the river Acheron surrounding the Rings

Vidi genti a la riviera d’un gran fiume

Di trapassar parevan sì pronte

“Che è quell ch’i’ discerno per lo fioco lume?”  

(Virgil)“Si fier conte su lo rio d’Acheronte”

I saw folks lighting up in some packed smoking-lounge

Like lured birds they had gathered at the ferry-a

(Too many metaphors!), Adam’s seed on the shore,

For their trip down the Acheron Riviera.

Ed ecco! verso noi venire per nave

Un vecchio nocchier a lo blanco pelo

Gridando: “Guai a voi anime prave!

Non isperate mai veder lo cielo.”

And lo! There did float up before us in a boat

Red-necked good-old-boy demon named Charon.

“Do y’all understand where the Wrath-of-God lands?”

He inquired. The crowd answered with groans.   

“E tu che se’ costi, anima viva,

Pàrteti da cotesti che son morti.”

Ma poi che vide ch’io non mi partiva

Disse: “Per altra via, per altri porti.”

This ferryman said, he could only take the dead
Yelled out, "Fella, you’re alive, I can’t row ya.”
Virge gave him some lip, and I didn’t lose my grip;

He caved, ”’Gainst rules, but guess I can stow ya.” 

Virgil:

Figliuol mio, (disse‘l cortese maestro),

Quelli che muion ne l’ira di Dio

Tutti convegnon qui d’ogne paese

E pronti son a trapassar lo rio.

My son (preached my teacher), these polyglot creatures,

Have pissed off their superior, our Father;

When sent farther below, these late souls don’t tarry-o

Here they eerily, eagerly gather.

Quinci non passa anima buona

E però, se Caron di te si lagna 

Ben puoi sapere che’ l suo dir suona,

If Charon seems to care that you haven’t paid your fare

Recall, you’re not a routine ticket-holder.

As a bona-fide shade, I have already paid.

Dante:

La mente di cui la paura mi bagna.

Your assurance won’t make me feel bolder.

La buia terra tremò e diede vento

E balenò una luce vermiglia

La qual mi vinse ciascun sentimento

E caddi come l’uom cui sonno piglia.

The crossing on Wrath-of-God’s deck that strange night,

- I was struck by deep sleep, can’t remember

What remains are the sights and the terrifying sounds

Of a fierce wind, red light and a tremor.

Outro:

Bad mem’ries live on, from Old Testament on down

Of the brownfield site known as Gehenna

A park they’ll instate when they decontaminate

But completion date – hard to know when-a.

* B. 8^th or Boniface VIII, the pope who succeeded Celestine was Dante’s enemy.  

JUL 19, duplication: cootchie-(cootchie)-coo

 

Authors' Note: Cootchie coo, sometimes cootchie cootchie coo, with its many spelling variants, has evolved as a (re)duplication voiced when tickling a baby, or possibly other targets, as described [[47817:here]]. Bloviation, and the blowhard are described in other verses.

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 you could 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".

JUL 18, Canadiana: Eastern Canadian funky towns