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

You can review these illustrated verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'Pandemic Poetry' on the full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense".

JUN 12, boating: J-stroke (canoeing)

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

JUN 11, birdlore: toucans

Authors' Note:   This is a true story. I very recently received from friends vacationing in Costa Rica an e-mail with a marvellous attached video closeup of toucans shot with a cellphone camera. I felt compelled to pass the photo on to others.

  In fact, no toucans make a sound that would be described as a 'tweet'. With respect to sound production, members of the more than forty species comprising the family are divided into 'yelpers' and 'croakers'. The social networking entity, Twitter, on the other hand, highlights in words and with their logo the tweetiness of short, chirping birdsong communication.

You can view an encyclopedic collection of illustrated poems on this topic by proceeding to the post 'Poems about BIRDLORE' on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE. 

JUN 10, a brief saga (waterfowl): life as a loon

Keep more to yourself for a while, wash your hands frequently, remember to laugh on occasion, and stay well!

 

You can review a collection of illustrated verses in a wider context by proceeding to "Immersible Verse: Limericks about Waterfowl" on the full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'.

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. Your blogging team has been presenting these concoctions at the rate of one per month, mixed in with shorter poems, wordplay and other offerings.   

 

To access the next 'brief saga' on this blog (July 2020), proceed to 'Broken Arrows (nuclear weapon accidents)'.

To access the most recent previous 'brief saga' (May 2020), back up to 'Fluoridation'.  

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

2020
2021
2022

2023. 

JUN 9, Ontario nostalgia: Algonquin Provincial Park

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. 

JUN 8, garden intruders: glossy privet

Readers, you are fortunate to have available all our poetic comments on creatures (animal and vegetable), devoted to subverting your gardening plans. To view this collection our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense", click HERE!

You can also review illustrated verses about orderly garden inhabitants by proceeding to 'Poetry Praising the Charleston Garden' on the full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Click HERE!

JUN 7, wordplay map: r-i-c anagrams (R-E-P-U-B-L-I-C-A-N-S in Canada) #1+#2

You can view the entire collection of 18 wordplay maps of 'R-E-P-U-B-L-I-C-A-N-S in Canada' on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense" by clicking HERE.

JUN 6, wordplay maps: new world palindromes (#23,#24)

a) reprise

       

You can view the entire collection of these 50 wordplay maps, by accessing the collection 'Tourists Palindromic Guides: The Americas'. Start by clicking HERE! 

b) Giorgio's Lexicon of Binomials

JUN 5, wordplay maps: sister-cities anagrams (19-21)

JUN 4, national and multinational verse: Armenia

Authors' Note:

neurasthenia: obsolete term from psychiatry, implying general debility attributed to exhaustion of the nervous system

Armenia, the first country in the world to adopt Christianity, has had disputes with its neighbors for most of its existence. The revered Mt. Ararat is now located geopolitically in Turkey, but is still considered a national symbol of Armenia, and dominates the view from the Armenian capital of Yerevan. Armenia's borders to the east and west currently remain closed owing to hostile relations with Azerbaijan and Turkey.

You can review our collection of verses about various individual nations, and about the groupings to which they belong, on our topic-based blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE. 

JUN 3, neologism (personal): awarassment

(Ed. Note:) To make this effort easier, we have now collected these neologistic verses in a collection on our parent blog "Edifying Nonsense";  click HERE.

 

JUN 2, monologues of Nuclear Medicine: Shakespeare's 'As We Nuke It'

JUN 1, American satire: Sharpie-gate (hurricane season reminiscence)

Keep more to yourself for a while, wash your hands frequently, wear a mask in public, remember to laugh on occasion, and stay well!

Here's a relevant recollection, given that June 1 is the official start of the Atlantic hurricane season.

We hope that you enjoyed this verse. You can find 40 more on this topic in 5 collections on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Click HERE to start! 

MAY 31, curtained verse: gull and buoy

 EDITORS' WARNING: You must be at least 12 years of age to read this post!

You can review other mildly scurrilous illustrated verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'Curtained verse: Faintly Obscene (Selected) Limericks' on the full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'.

MAY 29, etymology: 'havoc'/'haven'

For fans of etymology, we have three blogposts with collections of verses about word-origins such as the one above on our more encyclopedic blog "Edifying Nonsense". You can start to review some of this intriguing material by clicking HERE, and then following the links!

MAY 28, 2020: exotic destination: Cappadocia (troglodytes)

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

 

MAY 27, classic palindrome: Mr. Owl

Keep more to yourself for a while, wash your hands frequently, wear a mask in public, remember to laugh on occasion, and stay well!

Authors' Note:  The original classic palindrome stated,

"Mr. Owl ate MY metal worm."

 Ms. Nan is an eight-year-old proto-recycler. Readers are asked to sign her 'Recyclers' Pledge', and thereby help protect creatures in our common environment.

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'. 

MAY 26, Ontario nostalgia: Trent-Severn canal

Keep more to yourself for a while, wash your hands frequently, wear a mask in public, remember to laugh on occasion, and stay well!

Authors' Note:       

docktails: slang for drinks, and/or a cocktail-      snack social hour at dockside, as used by North American motorboating cliques

mocktails: abbreviation for mock (non-alcoholic) cocktails

  The Trent-Severn Waterway is a system operated by Parks Canada and enjoyed by recreational motorboaters. It meanders for 400 km (250 miles) across southern Ontario, joining L. Ontario's Bay of Quinte and L. Huron's Georgian Bay via intervening smaller lakes, rivers and manmade canals. With over 40 locks en route, the altitude near the system's midpoint reaches a level of 180 m (590 feet) above the starting point. The world's highest lift-lock, located at Peterborough, is an impressive piece of engineering and a tourist attraction.

  The Trent-Severn Waterway is a system operated by Parks Canada and enjoyed by recreational motorboaters. It meanders for 400 km (250 miles) across southern Ontario, joining L. Ontario's Bay of Quinte and L. Huron's Georgian Bay via intervening smaller lakes, rivers and manmade canals. With over 40 locks en route, the altitude near the system's midpoint reaches a level of 180 m (590 feet) above the starting point. The world's highest liftlock, located at Peterborough, is an impressive piece of engineering and a tourist attraction.

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. 

MAY 25, birdlore: cedar waxwings

 You can view an encyclopedic collection of illustrated poems on this topic by proceeding to the post 'Poems about BIRDLIFE' on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE. 

MAY 24, anagram swarm: A-VERY-STABLE-GENIUS, #7

Bonus wordplay concoction:

You can review an amazing number of anagrams based on this book title on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. There are two posts to view:  ’A Very Stable Genius': Theme and Variations (97 anagrams), and 

'A Very Stable Genius': additional funky anagrams

MAY 23, wordplay maps: new world palindrome (#21,#22)

Keep more to yourself for a while, wash your hands frequently, wear a mask in public, remember to laugh on occasion, and stay well!

TO ENLARGE any slide or stand-alone photo on this blog, just click on it. To reverse the process, and return to this standard view, find the little 'x' in the upper right corner of the black field and click there.

You can view the entire collection of these 50 wordplay maps, by accessing the collection 'Tourists Palindromic Guides: The Americas'. Start by clicking HERE! 

MAY 22, wordplay maps: sister-cities anagrams (16-18)

MAY 21, geysers: geyser guru

Authors' Note:  The geyser (GHIE-zer or GHEE-ser) is an unusual hydrogeologic phenomenon which occurs in volcanic zones where magma (molten lava) is close to the surface, and there is fissuring of rocks due to earthquake faults. Minerals dissolved from adjacent rocks precipitate out, forming a lining for a type of 'plumbing system' in which steam builds up, resulting in regular eruptions of boiling water. Changes in the colour of the swirling hot water in the pool help predict the arrival of the next photogenic discharge. 

 Yellowstone Park, in the American Rockies, is a site of these natural wonders, including the famous geyser ‘Old Faithful’.

 You can review these illustrated verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'Poetry that Spurts: Verses about Geysers' on the full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense".

MAY 20, singable satire: show-tune written by George Gershwin, "ICELAND"

 PARODY SONG-LYRICS

ORIGINAL SONG: The melody for the spiritual ballad "Summertime" from the George Gershwin opera "Porgy and Bess".

PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio (registered pseudonym) and Dr. GH, August 2018. 

EVOLUTION of the LYRICS: The song-lyrics originated as limerick verses composed by Giorgio Coniglio 2017, and compiled in January 2018. The details of the lyrics were based on GC's family trip to Iceland in June 2015. Most of the verses also appear, mildly modified, in the online limerick dictionary OEDILF.com. They were subsequently adopted as a parody-song collage, and posted on GC's blog, at that time known as "Ukable Parodies". 

SONGLINK:  Our whole series of songs can be found in a friendly format for ukulele (and guitar)-players on our blog  "SILLY SONGS and SATIRE". Click HERE to proceed to this site: it also has a calypso-style song derived from the same visit to Iceland in June 2015 under the title "Nordic Journal: Island in the Sun".                                   

CONTENTS: titles (OEDILF listing)

1. Iceland / Ísland  
2. Geysir: OEDILF 
3. Eyjafjallajökull / E15 
4. Second-Hand Geyser
5. Stopover in Reykjavik 

ICELANDIC SAGA

(to the tune of "Summertime") 

1. In the far North Atlantic there’s dry land:
Friendly Iceland – it’s my kind of island.
You’ll be welcomed in Ísland *; cool and damp but at-peace land; 
Summer-sun-all-day-but-you-won’t-fry land.

2. Tourists learn the Norse thermal god plays here;
The Icelandic locale known as ‘Geysir’.
From hot pools steam erupts - belching after he sups.
Then they head for the sign (that says),“Tour Bus Stays Here.”

3. E15, Iceland stratovolcano,
Spews out fog that can clog up your plane, Oh
If explain it I must - it’s just ashes and dust;  
Can’t they flush it away with some Drano?

4. A cheap gift: though Björn thought he’d surprise her,
Björg rejected his second-hand geyser,                                              
“What I’d prize is a freezer. Your poor wife, why displease her?
It just proves you’re a nasty old miser.”

5. If you’re planning an Iceland stopover:
Avoid months with an 'R', like October;  
And a Reykjavik warning! Bars open til morning  

With patrons not prone to stay sober.

* pronounced as EES-lahndt.