DEC 29, culinary verse: gyozas (potstickers)

poetry lyrics:/ Tomodachi, I'd like to propose a/ Tasty treat any wise hosuto knows a/
Texture you've dreamed/ of --,/they're fried and then steamed -- / It's the Japanese
 dumpling: gyoza.   

Find the collection of illustrated poems dealing with these issues on the post 'Culinary Verse' on our topic-based blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Click HERE!

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DEC 27, defining opinion: hopeful

poetry lyrics:/ Hopeful Holly the optimist's speech:/ "Common goals?

 We've made progress in each./ With continuing luck/ A great deal will be struck --

 / A successful conclusion we'll reach."/ (Not her fault when things halt

 with a screech.)

Authors' Note: There's no denying that Holly the optimist has used a number of cliches in her speech; nor that often (always "unexpectedly") things come to a screeching halt.

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.

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DEC 25, submitted palindromes: RANDOM PILES 48

 You have reached the "Submitted Palindromes" thread on the blog "Daily Illustrated Nonsense", a light literary entity. Owing to advancing age and other considerations, the frequency of outpouring, 30 posts per month for the first 60 months, has been reduced stepwise after December 2024 and now numbers 10 per month. But each month you can still find a collection of palindromic phrases proferred by our seven palindromic assistant editors.

You can access this delightful entertainment right here by entering submitted palindromes in a search bar at the top of this post and scrolling downwards through the wordplay posts that you will discover.

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.  

DEC 23, photo-collage: editorial retraction

And a couple other pics, now that we're back in the Carolina Lowcountry ...

great blue heron, hunting at dusk

reflected sun, setting at the boardwalk,
Ravenel Bridge in the background

a great egret surveys the boating scene

shrimpers at Shem Creek, SC

helicopter parents mind their gosling

 

TODAY'S POEM (senryu  *) 

laughing gull

squads of laughing gulls

patrol the public beach, for

crumbs of children's snacks.

Giorgio Coniglio

* learn more HERE about senryu, a lesser-known Japanese short poem that shares the physical characteristics of haiku (nominally 17 'on' / syllables in three non-rhyming lines), but deals in a satiric or humorous way with human foibles rather than with Nature. 

READY TO SEE MORE ?

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If you aren't on the 'web-version', you can get there by clicking that choice ('view web-version') at the very bottom of this blog-page! 

DEC 21, photo-collage: more Lowcountry miscellany

 This is a followup to our prior post of May 17, 2025.

a majestic great egret

cool oldster at a public dance,
Marine Park, Mt Pleasant
 (under the Cooper River Bridge)

a loaded cargo ship proceeds up the darkening Cooper River.

 

juvenile night heron

TODAY'S POEM (senryu  *) 

Barber's "Adagio" --

string orchestra or quartet

courts the infinite.

 

Giorgio Coniglio

* learn more HERE about senryu, a lesser-known Japanese short poem that shares the physical characteristics of haiku (nominally 17 'on' / syllables in three non-rhyming lines), but deals in a satiric or humorous way with human foibles rather than with Nature. 

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DEC 19, photo-collage: mammalian talking heads, H to O

This tongue-in-cheek collection is another post, following up on the earlier series "Avian Talking Heads". All the photos (except for a few noted exceptions) were taken by G.C.

prior mammalian participants

(May 19 -- click HERE): armadillo, basset hound, bison, capuchin monkey, chipmunk, cottontail rabbit, cow, elephant seal, giraffe, goat, gray squirrel, grizzly bear. 

CURRENT PARTICIPANTS: hippopotamus, horse, ibex, llama, moose, mule, naturalist, olive baboon, orangutan.

hippopotamus

horse

ibex (tur)

llama

moose (metallic)

mule

naturalist (Audubon)

olive baboon

 Sumatran orangutan, catching a nap

If you enjoyed this foolish collection (that started with the concept of avian talking heads) you might want to proceed to several more posts featuring mammals, as in today's blogpost. Eventually, there will even be posts featuring other life forms! 

Click here to proceed to mammalian talking heads P to Z.

Or, click here if you would like to go back and review the whole series, starting with avian talking heads.

Talking Heads are a media resource:

Seasoned viewers at breaking news' source,

As in sports, storms, disasters.

But they're sometimes just 'masters'

Who the show-host's weird views reinforce.

Giorgio Coniglio

Readers who would like further information on the subjects, locales or technique of these photos are asked to leave a query in the Comments section. 

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DEC 17, exotic destination: Nome, Alaska

poetry lyrics:/ For my bucket list, travel to Nome/ Leads the pack above

 Fargo and Rome/ But I want you to know, its/ Cold shoulder to poets/

 Might push me, this year, to stay home. 

Other verses about 'Exotic Travel Destinations' can be found on our blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Click HERE.

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DEC 15, (re)duplication: fuddle-duddle

poetry lyrics:/ Trudeau (pere) got our heads in a muddle/ When he mumbled,

 (he claimed),"Fuddle-duddle"./ (Then curmudgeons would cluck/ "In the House, he said f***!"),

/ Back in days when our language was subtle. 

Authors' Note: (usually, FUD-uhl-dud-uhl, or with a French lilt, as here, fud-uhl-DUD-uhl)

fuddle-duddle: an infrequently used (re)duplication, voiced dismissively in dealing with opinions that the speaker rejects.

In 1971 Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, father of current PM Justin Trudeau, unleashed a minor scandal by using unparliamentary language in the Canadian House of Commons. A portion of the ensuing brouhaha, deftly sidestepped by Trudeau, revolved around whether he had actually spoken or merely mouthed the inappropriate words.

Web discussion:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuddle_duddle

Readers willing to go down an internet rabbit-hole can easily get to a collection of more than a dozen other 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".

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DEC 13, variant Nantucket limerick: zoophile from Nanoose

poetry lyrics:/ Had you heard? That recluse from Nanoose/ Doesn't take folks advice

 (he's obtuse)./ Zoophilic, he pairs/ Every evening with bears,/

 'Cause the neighborhood's run out of moose.

 

Such adventures show etiquette loose.

Authors' Note: You can find another daily offering on this blog dealing with zoophilia by clicking HERE.

Or, you could review our entire collection of spoof verses based on the iconic Nantucket limericks on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense' by clicking HERE.
 

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DEC 11, planet-saving verse: drought

poetry lyrics:/ Our pert climatologist daughter/ Wrote her thesis, and change

was the fodder./ Now she travels about,/ Upbeat expert on drought,/ And she's never

 a fish out of water.

Authors' note: Additional information is available for readers in our illustrated poems about "drought", and "global warming").

You can help save the planet by viewing all our verses in this series at "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE!

incidental photo (2023)

barrel cactuses

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DEC 9, basic medical science: hippocampus

poetry lyrics:/ Hippocampus? Here's what it is not:/ Neither haven

with bright hippos taught -- / nor a horse-camping focus/ But a grey-matter locus/

 Where our brains their new memories slot. 

Readers can enjoy our whole collection of verses devoted to "basic medical science" by clicking HERE. 

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DEC 7, mythed opportunities: Galatea (and Pygmalion)

poetry lyrics:/ There's a sculptor from old Nicosia,/ Who recorded this worthy idea/

 (Help from Venus worth mention:/ Pygmalion's invention? /

Animation for nymph Galatea.  

Authors' Note: The ancient Greek myth about the Cypriot sculptor Pygmalion was recounted by the Roman poet Ovid in his epic work "Metamorphoses" in 8 CE. The name of Pygmalion's self-crafted ivory love-object was not recorded until French romanticists picked up the issue in the 19th century. In 1871, the British comic playwright W.S. Gilbert composed a modernized spoof in blank verse, "Pygmalion and Galatea", that became a successful hit, as did Pygmalion, George Bernard Shaw's 1913 theatrical contribution, and its musical and cinematic adaptations (1956 and 1964 respectively) known as My Fair Lady.

The illustration is taken from a drawing by Gerome done in preparation for his iconic painting "Pygmalion and Galatea".

You can take advantage of the whole spectrum of illustrated poems dealing with 'Mythed Opportunities' that we have collected on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Click HERE!

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