SEP 10, a brief saga (handbook on micro-nutrients): beriberi and alcohol

Authors' Note: Wernicke's encephalopathy is a brain disorder that often occurs in the context of binge-drinking in poorly nourished alcoholics. As its characteristic manifestations abate, generally following hospital admission, symptoms of an overlapping condition known as Korsakoff's syndrome may become evident. These consist of various types of memory failure, with prominent confabulation (grandiose storytelling, as part of identity-amnesia). Together the two patterns are described as Wernicke-Korsakoff illness. The treatment for both stages is high-dose thiamine (vitamin B1), administered either intravenously or intramuscularly.

You can view and review all our verses on the topic of 'Organic Brain Poetry' by following this link to the encyclopedic collection on "Edifying Nonsense."

You can find our incipient collection of verse related to micro-nutrients, i.e. trace minerals and vitamins on our topic-based blog "Edifying Nonsense" by clicking HERE. 

 For the purpose of this blog, a 'brief saga' is defined as a poem, usually narrative, but occasionally expository, that tell its story in at least 15 lines. Most commonly, the format involves three stanzas in limerick form, constituting a single submission to the online humor site 'Omnificent English Dictionary in Limerick Form'. On the OEDILF site, rigorous standards for content and format are involved in a collaborative editing process that may take several weeks to over a year. 

 There are now over 40 of these lengthier bits of doggerel featured at OEDILF in Giorgio's "Author's Showcase". The OEDILF number for each accepted multiverse poem is shown here on the slide with its first verse. We have been blog-publishing these poetic adventures here monthly since January 2020. And the good news is that almost all limerick-derived verses can be set to music!

To access the next 'brief saga' on this blog (October 2022), proceed to 'Metabolic Delirium'. 

To access the most recent previous 'brief saga' (August 2022), back up to 'Mar-a-Lago' (the Dacha).

 To access all of our 'brief sagas' by the year of their creation, click on your selection below.

2020
2021
2022
2023.

SEP 9, poems about parasites: cat fleas

Authors' Note: (tee-no-seh-FA-li-deez FEE-luhs)

As discussed in our previous verse on fleas, our voracious protagonist, Ctenocephalides felis, is the chief ectoparasite inflicting misery on canines in North America. Unfortunately, its life-cycle — egg, larva, pupa, adult (the hopping wingless blood-sucker), can result in its persistence for up to a year in a warm environment, like the carpet in your rented flat (apartment). In the absence of its usual victims, the flea will consider humans as a predation target of secondary interest. Another piece of bad news is that, through longstanding attempts at control, the species is becoming resistant to insecticides.

You can review Giorgio's other verses about parasites, both external (ecto-) and internal (endo-) on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE.

SEP 8, news-post: Elizabeth the Second, OEDILFian tribute

 

SEP 7, patients and their maladies: lichen sclerosus

                                                                   Final approval at OEDILF: #123098, Nov, 2023.

Authors' Note: 

dermatosis: general term for a skin condition

Lichen sclerosus, a chronic skin malady of unknown cause, with lesions affecting primarily the genital areas, is most often a scourge of women, but men sometimes become sufferers. Caring fors ensitive skin areas by avoiding scratching and restrictive clothing is a necessary lifestyle change. Lifelong use of potent steroid creams has been shown to reduce the chances of malignant transformation.

You can view these verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'Nurse-Verse: Patients and their Maladies' on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE!

 

SEP 6, photo-collage, Toront-oases: goats at play at Riverdale Farms

Editor's Note:

 I am amazed that I had the opportunity to shoot this sequence (as always, my trusty pocket-cellphone camera served as instrumentation). It was as if the goats at Riverdale Farm, not far from my home, had rehearsed a little skit for my entertainment. First they did the routine in which the larger goat pretends he is pouncing on the smaller one, but backs off at the last second; and they repeated it at four different angles, without any intervening pause, as if they wanted to be sure I saw it. Then, as if to show it was all in good fun, they did the head-butting number with the smaller goat in command (I think that was 'fixed'). The Farm had very few visitors that day, owing to the pandemic and to the incipient winter weather.

  It might take a lifetime of observing goats to see the likes again! or not! 

SEP 5, reptiles: gila monsters, revelation

Gila monsters are found in southern California, Arizona and northern Mexico. They should enjoy ongoing changes in our climate. 

Berkeley California -- 100F
September5, 2022
screen photo c/o JJH

 You can review photos and illustrated herpetologic verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'Verses about Reptiles' (don't worry! no snakes)' on the full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". 

SEP 4, painterly poetry: Manet, and "Lunch on the Grass (Dejeuner sur l'Herbe)"

Readers might also enjoy viewing our photograph of Manet's study for this painting, as displayed at the Courtauld Gallery, by clicking HERE!

You can view Manet's rather formal looking 'study' for "Lunch on the Grass" by accompanying us to the Courtauld Gallery, London, UK, by clicking HERE.

OR, you might want to review our entire collection of illustrated verses on 'painterly poetry' by clicking HERE. 

SEP 3, American satire (prolongation): special master (Mar-a-lago documents)

Author's Note:  

post-midterm: refers to the time following the US mid-term elections of 2022.

Supporters of the forty-fifth US leader had 'threatened' to defund the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), in retaliation for the agency's carrying out a search and seizure operation (under court order) at his Florida residence and golf-club resort. The material seized  included classified documents that had been taken and stored there when he left office in January 2021, contrary to laws relevant to disposal of such secret government information. His detractors had hoped that he might be indicted for obstruction of justice related to these matters prior to the mid-term elections of November 2022.    

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! 

SEP 2, binomial phrases: "high and dry"

Authors' Note: In deciding on their wedding vows, brides and grooms often pick binomial expressions owing to their aura of tradition and their musicality. Such phrases, bordering on clichés, include:

for better or for worse, to have and to hold, richer or poorer, and in sickness and in health. The ultimate cliché in this formulaic construct (that protagonist Cliff felt pressured to recite) is usually "til death do us part" (not a binomial).

Generally,  following recitation of the vows, the co-opted man and wife get photographed, and then the whole wedding-party goes off to celebrate. In the case described above, the mandatory recitation was distorted, and the guests were left high and dry. 

To review our poetic effusion about binomial phrases proceed to our blog 'Edifying Nonsense', click HERE ! 

There is also an entire collection of lyrics to patter songs, somewhat older material, dedicated to various kinds of word-pairs, that provides more didactic material and an extensive series of examples, and allows you to sing these expressions for your own enjoyment, or for that of others around you. Click HERE !

SEP 1, mythed opportunities: Ovid's "Metamorphoses"

 

Authors' Note: Sulmona is a town in Italy's Abruzzo region where the renowned Roman poet Ovid (Ovidio in modern italian), contemporary of Horace and Virgil, started writing his works in Latin. His magnum opus "Metamorphoses" is a monumental epic of 15 books, recounting chronologically the creation of the universe to the reign of Julius Caesar. Although many of its tales are recounted with a personal twist, it is the source of much of our knowledge of Greco-Roman myth.

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!