JUL 18: the start of a hiatus

PLEASE NOTE THAT GIORGIO WILL BE TAKING A MUCH-NEEDED VACATION.

REGULAR NEW POSTINGS ON THIS BLOG (as well as our related blogs "Edifying Nonsense" and "Silly Songs and Satire") WILL LIKELY RESUME AFTER LABOR DAY. 

PLEASE CHECK BACK THEN, FOR NEW MATERIAL (although the old stuff, as detailed in each post's righthand column, remains available for nostalgic review). 

HAVE A GOOD SUMMER !!!  

(Disappointed readers may be partly cheered by an exception: the submitted palindrome thread on "Edifying Nonsense" has been honored by our contributors, and prepared new posts will be automatically displayed starting on the 25th of each month until the end of the current calendar year.)  

JUL 17, palinku (poetic novelty): 45th prez, 2/7

 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. (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.)
 

JUL 16, photo-collage: deluge (celestial intervention cited in Toronto and Milwaukee)

\

Union Station entrance stairway

A 90+ minute deluge in Milwaukee

JUL 15, special events: Cirque du Soleil's "Echo", aerialists #2

 

JUL 14, special events: Cirque du Soleil's "Echo", aerialists #1

 

Tune in for more, tomorrow!

JUL 13, special events: Cirque du Soleil's "Echo", jugglers

 

Stay tuned for more views of this activity later this week!

JUL 12r-, at heart: myocardial ischemia

 a) reprise from 2020

JUL 22, at heart: myocardial ischemia

Authors' Note: There is variability in patients' response to the development of blockages in the coronary arteries. Part of this is due to the gradual development of collateral arteries or side branches, which may mitigate the effect of the obstructions to produce chronic symptoms or acute severe damage to heart muscle. The net impact on flow can be assessed through imaging showing blood flow to heart muscle at rest and stress, with nuclear or other studies of myocardial perfusion (‘gated SPECT’).

You can view more poems on this topic by proceeding to "Cardiologic Tracings: AT HEART" (parts #1 and #2) on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE!

JUL 8r-, bi-lyrical limerick: dual-rhyme schemes

 

reprise from June 2020

JUL 8, bi-lyrical limerick: dual-rhyme schemes

Authors' Note: 

  Despite the message of the verse, the author has taken pains to construct a slate of dual rhyme scheme, or bi-lyrical limericks, including the above instance; the rhyme scheme can be characterized as: 

line 1:  C...A

line 2:  C...A

line 3:  D...B

line 4:  D...B

line 5:  C...A.  

In the above verse, the additional C- and D-pattern rhymes are distinguished using green font. The scansion (pattern of beats), usually involves stressing the third syllable in each line (as indicated by underlining). In this instance, this pattern is broken in the third line of the verse.

Be sure to check out the whole collection of 'bi-lyrical limericks' by proceeding to "Edifying Nonsense." CLICK HERE ! (Or, if you prefer, you could look over this stuff on Giorgio's Facebook photo-albums.) 

JUL 7r-, pandemic poetry: cetacean advice

 

reprise from June 2020

JUN 13, pandemic poetry: cetacean advice (conversation at Shem Creek)

Hi! I'm your social distancing trainer.

Authors' Note:

cetacean: pertaining to whales, dolphins or porpoises

JUL 6, postal places, USA: Champaign, IL

Authors' Note: 

Chicagoan: resident of Chicago, IL

urbane: sophisticated, elegant, worldly

No banana!: slang for 'not prize-winning'

No pain, no gain: slang phrase indicating hard work as a requirement for advancement.

IL is the official abbreviation for the American state of Illinois, in which two neighboring towns, Champaign, population 88,000 and Urbana, population 38,000, make up the metropolitan area of Champaign-Urbana, located 135 miles (215 km) south of the megalopolis of Chicago. The names of both towns, dating from the nineteenth century, relate to earlier settlements in the nearby state of Ohio.

Champaign-Urbana, IL is home to the flagship campus of the University of Illinois, and offers an appropriate spectrum of cultural opportunities. Surrounded by an extensive, flat, mid-west farming district, it is on occasion, as here, disparaged by residents of Chicago for its lack of "urbanity".

 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 !

JUL 5, patients and their maladies: hemiplegia

Authors' Note: In medical jargon, a stroke (cerebro-vascular accident) that leaves the victim with complete loss of function in the affected area is said to be dense. Patients like old friend Dave, who have had a dense stroke with severe one-sided weakness (hemiplegia) in mid-life, may survive with appropriate early treatment of atherosclerotic lesions in the opposing carotid artery and other major arteries, to prevent further loss of function. With appropriate physiotherapy, targeted at flexibility in the affected area and strength on the unaffected side, such patients can get through several decades, walking hesitatingly, with the use of canes and other assistive devices. As these courageous persons age, mobility issues become even more problematic than for the rest of us.

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 4, poet's corner: argumentively (the Cans and the Can'ts)

 You can find lots of other verses on this blog under the listing "Poets' Corner".  Click HERE.

JUL 3, photo-collage: bunnies on the trail (Toronto's Brickworks)

 

                                                                                                

JUL 2, American satire (prolongation): hokum

Author's Note:

oakum: naval term for a caulking material prepared by impregnating old unravelled ropes with tar

locum (tenens): Latin loanword for a replacement or substitute for a vacationing professional (doctor, dentist or lawyer)

hokum: a term of disparagement for misguided proposals or ideas, akin to gobbledegook and its lexicographic collaborators

Almost three years after the event, in August 2023, it was promised that there would be released "irrefutable" and "overwhelming" evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 American presidential election. The promise, made amidst a welter of criminal indictments, was quickly withdrawn.

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! 

JUL 1r, Canadiana: Canadian defined

a) reprise from July 1, 2020

In honour of Canada Day (July 1), 

b) supplemental boating pics

You can review these illustrated verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'Reverse Strokes: Limericks About Canoeing' on the full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. 

JUN 30, singable satire: a 'pair-ody' --- "ADENOMA"

 

PAIR-ODY-LYRICS, subbed into two songs (pair-ody is a neologism for a parody using a pair of original songs) .

ORIGINAL SONG#1: "Mona Lisa" , Nat King Cole, 1950 
ORIGINAL SONG#2. "Buona Sera", Louis Prima, 1956

PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, December, 2014.

EXPLANATORY NOTE: Rudolf Virchow, 1821-1902, is regarded as "the father of modern pathology".

Benign tumours are discussed in various other short poems by the author, including "Benign tumours, a guidebook", and "Pat's adenoma". Facial nerve malfunction, including Frei's syndrome, after resection of benign or malignant salivary tumours is discussed HERE.

PARODY-SONGLINK: See the version of "Adenoma" designed for ukulele and guitar players on "SILLY SONGS and SATIRE" HERE.

ADENOMA

(to the tune of "Mona Lisa")

Adenoma, Adenoma, Virchow named you;

You’re a common lesion in the neck and face -

Presentation with an endocrine secretion,

Or a painless little lump that’s out of place.

pleiomorphic adenoma
     of the salivary gland           

We don’t understand your motives, Adenoma.
What strange factors make you spurn control and grow?
But your schemes don’t require exploration,
They’re revealed by needle aspiration.

Are you truly benign, Adenoma,
Or just an irksome Neoplasia’s little bro?

Are you truly benign, Adenoma

Or just an irksome Neoplasia’s little bro?
Adenoma, Adeno-o-ma.

(to the tune of "Buona Sera")

Sayonara, salivary Adenoma
I’ve engaged a surgeon trained in ENT.
In the morning, he’ll resect you from your bed there

For removal of the specter of malignancy.

By next evening, Adenoma, we’ll be separate -
You’ll be sliced and spread on slides for full review;
And my mouth-droop from that nerve you’ve cruelly damaged -
With its fibers freed, my smile might yet be salvaged.

In the long-term, I am better off without ya’
Sayonara, Adenoma, kiss me goodbye.
Hasta mañana, Adenoma; kiss me goodbye.

JUN 29r-, sleek Greek prefixes: AN-

reprise from June 2020 

JUN 30, sleek Greek prefixes: AN-

Clicking HERE will introduce you to our entire collection of verses about the Greek prefixes!

JUN 28r-, trees: red mulberry

reprise from June 2020

JUN 17, trees: red mulberry

JUN 25, patients and their maladies: hives (urticaria)

 

Authors' Note: Hives, known medically as urticaria, is a symptomatic skin condition attributed to the release of the immune mediator histamine, and manifesting at some point in up to 20% of people. Allergy is a common underlying instigator, with drug reactions being causative in some cases. The onset, with progressive randomly distributed spread of batches of reddish raised lesions, is often acute, but the condition may be repetitive and "chronic", (i.e. on-again, off-again), as is the case with Yves' experience.

Formulation of the above poem required the use of binomial phrases, as indicated by italics.

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!

JUN 24, submitted palindromes: targeted, "TIP-TOP POT PIT"

 

JUN 23, ambulatory verse: strut

 

 You can review all our verses on this topic, accumulated for you on two posts (eight verse each) on our companion blog "Edifying Nonsense", by clicking HERE.

JUN 22r-, classic palindrome: 'flee to me, remote elf'

 

a) reprise from June 2020

JUN 24, classic palindrome: 'flee to me, remote elf'

Authors' Note: 

pelf: wealth, especially if dishonestly acquired

The verse honours, in neologistic fashion, two palindromes from the classic repertoire...

Flee to me, remote elf;

Ma is as selfless as I am;

and one which the author appears to have concocted...

Tip-top pot pit.

You can review these illustrated verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'Reversing Verse: Limericks About Classic Palindromes' on the full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. 

 

JUN 21, defining opinion: haunch

 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.

JUN 20, singable satire: Oscar Brand sings "SOMETHING TO GROAN ABOUT"

PARODY COMPOSED: Dr.G.H. and Giorgio Coniglio, April 2018, in preparation for upcoming Canada Day 2018.

PARODY SONGLINK (ukulele and guitar-friendly): All our songs (Giorgio's parody-lyrics and the originals that gave rise to them) can be found, along with suggested chord sequences in a friendly format for ukulele (and guitar)-players on our sister blog "SILLY SONGS and SATIRE". Click HERE to proceed to that site.  

SOMETHING TO GROAN ABOUT

(to the tune of "Something To Sing About")


I have asked Kim Jong Un, if he please would come visit soon,
Climate up here's 'bout the same as Pyongyang.
There'd be Raptors to watch, as he'd ratchet things up a notch;
And it's close to D.C. He replied, and he sang...

KIM's CHORUS#1: "Your mistake was to shelve war, way back after 1812
(Conflicts North-South helped my clan get ahead).
An armed border zone keeps two entities on their own.
When Yanks ask 'DMZee?', you demand 'DMZed'." 

Great Leader, don't send missiles  to our Queen Charlotte Isles,
Misty mystical place natives call 'Haida Gwai'.
We hope you and Don work things out, no need to rant and shout.
Diplomacy's tough, but please give it a try.

 KIM'S CHORUS#2: "From the wheat on your Prairies to the cheese from your dairies,
Metal tariffs in place on U.S. border fence.
You should follow our music score, as played in Singapore.
Hide heavy weapons, cozy up to Trump-Pence."

Kim, don't plant any nuke on, our territory called the Yukon.
The soil there's quite poor --  permafrost, rocks and scree.

It's too cold to grow a cuke on; you'll need to keep your tuque on
When you visit with Dennis. Bring extra kimchee.

KIM's CHORUS#1 (reprise): "Your mistake was to shelve war, way back after 1812
(Conflicts North-South helped my clan get ahead).

An armed border zone keeps two entities on their own.
When Yanks ask for 'DMZee', just demand 'DMZed'."