OCT 30, setting words to music (Inferno, Canto 6): "CRAYFISH ETOUFFEE" sung by Muddy Waters

 PASTICHE WITH PARODY SONG-LYRICS

ORIGINAL POEM:  Canto#6 of "Inferno" by Dante Alighieri, the first book in the triad, "The Divine Comedy", written in the early 14th century.

MUSICAL UNDERPINNINGS:: "Baby, Please Don't Go", Big Joe Williams 1935, popularized by Muddy Waters, used here primarily for music and meter.

PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, November 2015.

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

In the Third Circle, Dante sees the fate of gluttons like his friend from Florence named ‘Ciacco’ (the equivalent of ‘Piggy’). No fire used for torture here; the climate sounds like Toronto in March. The poor souls confined here in the freezing mud are tormented by a demonic three-headed dog, Cerberus. I took some liberties with Ciacco’s tale; in the original, he discusses the complex politics of 14th century Florence. The details I provided re Ciacco's gluttonous exploits are imagined. Eschatology is the part of theology concerned with final judgment and the destiny of the soul.  Étouffée is a delicious Louisiana dish of seafood, usually crayfish, in a Cajun roux sauce.

"Cerberus", W. Blake

New Orleans style crayfish etouffée

DANTE, GO AND SEE 

(to the tune of "Baby Please Don't Go")

Sono al cerchio terzo,

Dov'è'l crudele Cerbero

La pena di golosi; mi veggio intorno

Novi tormentati.

Dante go and see

Dante go and see

Dante go and see what’s in Circle Three - 

They punish gluttony.

Virge led me way down here

Virge brought me way down here

Another Ring of Fear, fiend in charge appear

Be a three-headed dog.

Thermostat set low

Pelting rain, hail, snow

Sinners grovel, sit in freezing mud, like sh*t

Hounded by that cursed dog.

Guy who waves hello -

Dante used to know,

‘Ciacco’, brought so low; he’s a Florentine

He tells his story, so …..

'ALL YOU EAT - ' , sign say - 

'CRAYFISH ÉTOUFFÉE'
Stayed all day and ate food from New Orleans

Now Circle Three’s my fate. ”

Virgil’s prophecy:

Eschatology -

Our friend ‘Piggy’ sit in that freezing sh*t

‘Til final trumpet blow.

So baby, please don’t stray

Don’t pig out that way

Don’t eat étouffée down in New Orleans

Or Circle Three’s your fate.

Dante go and see

Dante go and see

Dante go and see what’s in Circle Three - 

They punish gluttony.

OCT 29, gruesome verse: ghostbusting equipment

Happy Hallowe'en!  

  You can review more poems about 'Death and the Afterlife' in context ('death and the afterlife') on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Click HERE!

OCT 28, gruesome verse: hidey-hole

 Check out the whole collection called "Gruesome Verse" on our blog "Edifying Nonsense"  by clicking HERE.

OCT 27, decorative touches: night view of Ravenel Bridge (fabric art)

 Decorative Touches: "Sunset in Charleston"

Continuation from "Pictures at a Renovation -- finishing touches" (fabric artwork), September 22, 2023. 

                                                         

                                             fabric art by R.C.H., presented with thanks

For a comparison of modalities you might want to see the post of July 29,  "Photo-Study of the Cooper River Bridge".

OCT 26, decorative touches: "Ravenel Bridge" (fabric art)

Decorative Touches: Ravenel Bridge

Continuation from "Pictures at a Renovation -- finishing touches" (fabric artwork), September 22, 2023. 

                                                                                fabric art by R.C.H., presented with thanks

OCT 25, submitted palindromes, RANDOM PILES 39

 

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. The personal profiles for each of these contributors are displayed 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", continuing with other well-known phrases, such as "Dennis sinned". Otherwise, their contribution will be grouped in monthly 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).

You can access this delightful entertainment right here by entering submitted palindromes in one of the two search bars at the top of this post and scrolling downwards through the wordplay posts that you will discover, OR, just follow the links indicated above. 

Devotees of palindromic wordplay can further explore limericks and other short verses about the classic palindromes (and quite a few recent concoctions) that are randomly scattered on this blog after September 2000, or collected into grouped postings on our more scholarly blog "Edifying Nonsense" -- start HERE.

OCT 24, decorative touches: "Cypress Swamp 2" (fabric art)

 

"Cypress Swamp 2"

 fabric art by R.C.H., presented with thanks

OCT 23, decorative touches: "Quilt, untitled" (fabric art)

 

 Decorative Touches: "Untitled Quilt"

                                                              fabric art by R.C.H., presented with thanks

OCT 22, gruesome verse: by halves (autophagia)

Happy Hallowe'en!

Authors' Note: The term autophagia or autophagy  may refer to a rare psychiatric disorder, but is more commonly used to describe an intracellular process in the realm of cell biology, as described by the author HERE.

Check out the whole collection called "Gruesome Verse" on our blog "Edifying Nonsense" HERE.

OCT 21, decorative touches: "Reweavings" (fabric art)

 

a) Decorative Touches: "Reweavings 1" 

 fabric art by R.C.H., presented with thanks

b) Decorative Touches: "Reweavings 2"

fabric art by R.C.H., presented with thanks

c) Decorative Touches: "Reweavings 3" 

fabric art by R.C.H., presented with thanks

                                                                          fabric art by R.C.H., presented with thanks

OCT 20, setting words to music (Inferno, Canto 5): "DANTE VIEWS the PAIN OF LUST" by Leonard Cohen

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: "Dance Me To The End Of Love",  Leonard Cohen, 1984.

PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, November 2015.

PARODY-SONGLINK: To find ukulele and guitar chord-charts to help you accompany "Dante Meets the Pain of Lust" on your favorite instrument, click HERE.

                                                                                  

Inferno Canto#5b: 

DANTE MEETS THE PAIN OF LUST

(to the tune of "Dance Me To The End Of Love")

Intro: (reprise of Canto#5a)

Dante to the Second Circle warily descends

Dante with companion Virgil, Minos’ censure fends

A swirling flock of moaning souls who mortally
had letched

Choir-like, they are heard to kvetch

Choir-like, they are heard to kvetch.

 

Canto 5 continued:

Intesi che son dannati a così fatto tormento

Peccator che la ragion sommettono al talento

E come li stornei ne portano l’ali

Così quel fiato li spiriti mali

Quel fiato li spiriti mali.

Dante views the fate of those whose burning passion sinned
Buffeted like winter starlings by the smiting wind

Hurricanes that never rest tempestuously thrust,

And lash them with the winds of lust;

Damn them to the winds of lust.

Dante bears the witness, but his eyes he barely trusts,
Classical and literary lovers felled by Lust
Cleopatra, Semiramis, figures he knew well,
Tossing on the winds of Hell
Tossing on the winds of Hell.

Dante feels great pity for a thousand tortured shades

Torn by love from mortal life ‘though none of them had AIDS

Paolo and Francesca stop for coffee and a bite
Time-out from their endless flight

Time-out to describe their plight.

Paolo and Francesca were a pair to break your heart

Paolo and Francesca topped Ravenna’s scandal charts.

(Shakespeare’s sad Verona couple - not invented yet

So no-one knew of Juliet,

No-one heard of Juliet)    
 

Bro-in-law in castle garden, bad case of the hots;

Romance tales they read of Guinevere and Lancelot.

Bro Giovanni pulled his knife when they betrayed his trust
Murdered as revenge for lust

Murdered as revenge for lust.

Essa disse, “Esser basciato da cotanto amante,

Basciò e quel giorno non vi leggemmo avante

Dante, “Io venni men così com’io morisse

E caddi come corpo morto cade.

Caddi com'un morto cade.”

Dante learned how Frankie’d given into earthly bliss

When Paolo got his cue from reading of Sir Lancelot’s kiss 

Dante poet, overwhelmed by anguish, felt so crushed

He fainted with this tale of lust.

Dante felt the pain of lust.

Gianciotto, may he dwell in Caina; Caina, Caina, Caina, Caina, Caina Cai... 
Gianciotto, may he dwell in Caina; Caina, Caina, Caina, Caina, Caina, Cai.. 

Gianciotto ( or Giovanni the lame) - disparaging nickname for Giovanni Malatesta

Caina - a pit in the lowest ring of Hell reserved for those who have committed treachery and violence against family members (named after Cain, Abraham's son)

Italy in the late Medieval Period

 

OCT 19, decorative touches: abstract quilts (fabric art)

 a) Decorative Touch: "Stairway Quilt"

 fabric art by R.C.H., presented with thanks

b) Decorative Touches: "Remnants of Gaudi" 

 fabric art by R.C.H., presented with thanks

OCT 18, photo-collage, Toront-oases: on a golden pond (High Park)

Capturing views from a gorgeous day at summer's end:

this great egret is the star of the show

a mute swan 

ducks on duckweed

You can find a poetic tribute to duckweed on this blogsite by clicking HERE.

wood ducks, female

free-range ducks tour the pond
(male mallard above, male wood duck below)