March 21, 2020

MAR 21, the Charleston garden: tractor-seat plant (Farfugium)

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







You can review these illustrated verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'Poetry Praising the Charleston Garden' on the full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Click HERE!





March 20, 2020

MAR 20 (2020), singable satire: ABBA sings "CANOE CANOE, CANOE, CANOE, CANOE"

from EdNons Jan20,'19 


PARODY-LYRICS

ORIGINAL SONG: "I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do", ABBA, 1975.
PARODY COMPOSED:  Giorgio Coniglio, March 2013.

"A Canadian is someone who knows how to make love in a canoe", Pierre Berton, eminent Canadian journalist, editor, historian and author.
PARODY-SONGLINK: To find ukulele and guitar chord-charts to help you accompany "Canoe, Canoe, Canoe, Canoe, Canoe" on your favorite instrument, click HERE.

CANOEING LESSON

(to the tune of "I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do")

Intro: 

Need a location, eh? Lakeside assignation?
Space for two:
Canoe, canoe, canoe, canoe, canoe.

You’ll use the J-stroke, to steer straight; and for gay-folk
Take a crew;
Canoe, canoe, canoe, canoe, canoe.

Best pick a partner like Twiggy, but short;
Bow to discomfort if trapped ’neath the thwart.

Put down your paddle, when you climb in the saddle.
’musez-vous !
Canoe, canoe, canoe, canoe, canoe.

Wear your preserver, ’cause things might get rude,
If Mounties spot-check, and you’re in the nude.

Don’t lean on the gunwale, should you enter a tunnel;
This tip’s true:
Canoe, canoe, canoe, canoe, canoe.

Pierre Berton coined it our iconic boat,
Control paroxysms, you’re certain to float.

Get with your tête-à-tête, and not get quite soaking wet,
C’est beau !
Canot, canot, canot, canot, canot.

One final pointer:  l’avant-canotage –
Don’t flirt with fore-play pendant le portage.

There’s no better bateau built for Anglo- or Franco –
Vous et nous;
Canoe, canot, Canuck, canot, canoe.

March 19, 2020

MAR 19, the Charleston garden: indica azaleas

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








You can review these illustrated verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'Poetry Praising the Charleston Garden' on the full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Click HERE!

March 17, 2020

MAR 17, Carolina lowcountry: springtime excursions



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



reptile; painted turtle (Eastern); E. picta; Mt. Pleasant; South Carolina; Giorgio Coniglio

"Nice hot street pavement for sunning"
(Eastern painted turtle)










immature white ibis; Mt. Pleasant; South Carolina; Giorgio Coniglio

immature white ibis (less than two years)
Note the duller color of the bill and legs
and the brown-black body feathers
 versus its older companions

-compare Jan 30 and 31
  
azalea; azalea indica; Mt. Pleasant; South Carolina; Giorgio Coniglio

early azalea blooms




































Mt. Pleasant; South Carolina

great egret in the reeds

photo; Mt. Pleasant; South Carolina; Giorgio Coniglio

evening view from Shem Creek Park












March 16, 2020

MAR 16, curtained verse: medieval challenge

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'.



March 15, 2020

MAR 15, garden intruders: stinkhorn fungus





  

Authors' NoteClathrus ruber is a startlingly shaped species of saprophytic fungus that resembles an orange plastic toy ball. Its interior surfaces are coated with a foul-smelling slime that attracts flies, which then disperse the fungal spores. The characteristic fetid odor of the fungus resembles that of rotting meat. Other common names include latticed stinkhorn, red cage (fungus), and basket stinkhorn. 
       

Readers, you are fortunate to have 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 HEREYou 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!



March 14, 2020

MAR 14, classic palindrome: 'no X in Nixon'




Authors' Note: 

mike: short form for microphone, used more commonly for 'announcing', but sometimes used for 'denouncing' (condemning or attacking openly).

   Somehow, the misleading statement ‘No X in Nixon’ achieved the status of a famous palindrome. The astute analyst might realize that palindromes are inherently poor tools for orthography.

   On the other hand, here are three 'magical palindromes’ that provide correct spelling information:
No K in Nixon; no X in Nikon.
No C in iron; no R in icon.
No S in union. “No!”, in unison. 


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


March 13, 2020

MAR 13, pandemic poetry: March Sadness









Authors' Note: Little enthusiasm among college basketball fans was invoked by substituting 'Mulch Madness' for the customary 'March Madness' televised marathon.


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


March 12, 2020

March 11, 2020

MAR 11, geysers: Geysir, Iceland

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








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".


March 10, 2020

MAR 10, a brief singable saga: Walrus and Carpenter (lowcountry version)

ORIGINAL POEM/STORY: "The Walrus and the Carpenter" is a poem recited by Tweedledum and Tweedledee to Alice in chapter 4 of Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll, published in 1871.

POETRY-LYRICS: The third verse of the satire was originally composed as a limerick based roughly on the Lewis Carroll poem and submitted to OEDILF, an online humour dictionary, by Giorgio Coniglio in 2018. Giorgio subsequently expanded the poem to the current 6 verses.

PARODY-SONGLINK: These verses were originally conceived as poetic lyrics. However, they can, like almost all limericks, be easily sung using  certain well-known tunes; in this case, Carole King's "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?" 
Click HERE to access ukulele and guitar chord-charts to help you accompany the song ("Walrus and Carpenter", lowcountry version) on your favorite instrument.

But, if you are interested only in the lyrics, continue with the presentation that follows ...  




























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 the shorter poems, wordplay and other  and other general offerings.    
To access the next 'brief saga' on this blog, proceed to 'Claire's celerity' (words and nonsense).
To access the most recent previous 'brief saga', back up to 'Chemainus, British Columbia '.  
 

March 9, 2020

MAR 9, trees: hearts-of-palm (peach palm)



Authors' Note: re HEARTS-OF-PALM

  The domesticated form of the peach palm or palmito, offers an ecologically attractive solution to the puzzle of how to harvest the delicacy, hearts of palm. The young trees of this agriculturally superior species (farmed in Costa Rica, Brazil and other tropical Latin American countries), unlike closely related species, grow thornless and produce many suckers which can be harvested without harm to the main tree. 

  In contrast, the chief native of the USA, sabal palmetto or cabbage-palm, undergoes a lethal injury with harvesting.


You can review these illustrated verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'Uprooted Verse: 'Poems about Trees' on the full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". 



March 7, 2020

MAR 7, anagram swarm: A-VERY-STABLE-GENIUS, #2
















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



March 6, 2020

MAR 6, American satire: political anagrams



Author's Note  Generally, anagrams give results which are bizarre, unexpected and somewhat random, like "fake news". At least to his current detractors, there may appear to be a compelling stories hidden in these anagrams (italicized) of the name of the 45th U.S. President, but in fact the possible links are coincidental. It should be remembered that composers of wordplay, such as anagrams and palindromes, do not 'invent' the material, but only report it.




We hope that you enjoyed these verses. You can find 30 more on this topic in 5 collections on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Click HERE to start!  

March 5, 2020

MAR 5, wordplay maps: new world palindromes (#9,#10)







wordplay; map;  palindromes; Americas; Giorgio Coniglio



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


March 4, 2020

MAR 4, magical palindromes: examples #11 to #15

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 become an expert fan of our wordplay concoction 'magical palindromes' by reviewing the explanatory material found in ancient days on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense", HERE.
If you are still interested, you could check how we applied this technique to 'canal palindromes' by viewing this more recent post.