SEP 21, higher connections: views from Queen Elizabeth's funeral

 

SEP 20 (2022), singable satire: Tennessee Ernie Ford sings "The BALLAD of GIULIANI", part #1

PARODY SONG-LYRICS

ORIGINAL SONG: The Ballad of Davy Crockett , by Bruns and Blackburn, Walt Disney Studios 1954, anthem of the "Crockett craze". Several versions of the song were prominent on the Top Ten in 1955.

Youtube versions of the song by several performers are available via links to...

Bill Hayes

Fess Parker

Tennessee Ernie Ford 

   

SATIRE COMPOSED: Dr. G.H. and Giorgio Coniglio, June 2018.

 Readers interested in this topic might also enjoy Giorgio's lyrics posted on these earlier blogposts...

Dark Schemes

Rosenstein

Brennan's Tweet
Vlad Putin's Blogger  

PARODY-SONGLINK: To access ukulele chord-charts to help you accompany "The Ballad of Giuliani, part #1" on your favorite instrument, click HERE.
BACKGROUND INFO: Max Boot's opinion-editorial appeared in our local newspaper on May 8, 2018, under the heading "The long, disappointing fall of Rudy Giuliani". Here is the link to the particular newspaper column.
Other takes on Giuliani's statements about the Presidents' legal and personal imbroglios are given by Jennifer Rubin HERE, and Amy Sorkin HERE. However, this first part of the song deals with the more positive earlier portion of this flamboyant leaders' life-story.

The BALLAD of GIULIANI, part#1

(to the tune of "The Ballad of Davy Crockett")

Rudy Giuliani!

Voice of those wild Trump Years! 

Born in East Flatbush, down in NYC,

'Greenhorn' family from Tuscany.
Dad done time in Sing Sing for robbery,
An' Rudy volunteered for Robert Kennedy.
Rudy Giuliani,
Voice of those wild Trump Years!

At Manhattan College, took philosophy.
Enter the priesthood? "No, that's not for me!"
Studied Law at New York University,
To graduate cum laude with J.D. degree.
Rudy Giuliani,
Startin' up his career. 

To prosecute felons gave him a thrill.
Though tactics like the 'perp walk' were 'overkill'
As U.S. Attorney he showed great skill.
His record of convictions is unequalled still.
Rudy Giuliani,
Outshone his legal peers.

He fought single-handed through the Mafia Wars.
Racketeering mobsters he did abhor. 
Put their capos behind bars, and settled the score, 
And RICOed* inside traders, and convicted more.
Fearless Rudy launchin'
His politickin' career.

Two terms as Mayor start in '93.
First Repub. in office there since John Lindsay.
Libs felt queezy with the GOP, but he
Cleaned the streets, cut crime, and folks said "That's for me!"
Rudy Giuliani,
The Big Apple's brigadier. 

He craved a Senate seat; to lose was gall.
'Specially to Hillary, he'd hate to fall.
But marital scandal, and a doctor's call,
And bad race relations triggered his withdrawal.
Rudy Giuliani,
Back in the Mayor's chair. 

Rudy was the guy in charge when Towers fell.
At Ground Zero visited and stayed a spell.
Folks felt he handled the disaster well,
And was honored by the Queen as I've heard tell.
Rudy Giuliani!
Time's Person-of-the-Year.

Rudy Giuliani!
Time's Person-of-the-Year.

* RICO - The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.   

SEP 20, hellenophilia: approaching Santorini

 

 Other verses discussing our appreciation of Greece and things Greek can be found on our blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Click HERE.

SEP 19, death and the afterlife: garbage disposal in Heaven

Authors' Note: You may have gathered that the editors think that Heaven is a bureaucracy-ridden place. So, of course, as a resident there you may  have to fill out a lot of documentation to obtain permission to import Earthworms and related paraphernalia. 

 You can review more poems about 'Death and the Afterlife' in context ('death and the afterlife') on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Click HERE!

If you prefer, you could view most of this topically arranged material on Facebook, in Giorgio's photo-albums. (About 20% of those offerings consist of political satire or adult limericks, and you will have to be a 'friend' of Giorgio's to view that stuff.)

SEP 18, curtained verse: braless

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'.

SEP 17, cinematic guide: gainless (M*A*S*H theme-song)

Authors' Note: Director Robert Altman had initially requested music for a single scene in the 1970 movie M*A*S*H; in keeping with the plot, this was to be "the stupidest song ever written". Having difficulty in completing the lyricist's task himself, Altman called on his 14-year-old son, who presumably finished the job in a few minutes. The music for "Suicide is Painless" went on to become highly popular as the principal theme for the movie and the TV series; the lyrics are not widely known, but earned the junior Altman large sums in royalties.

You can view our collection of verses about the cinema on our encyclopedic blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE. 

SEP 16, poets' corner: poetic inventiveness -- palinkus

 

(Ed. note:) Palinku verses of this type have continued to accumulate, and there are now more than 50 of them. You can easily view them all, and learn more about their derivation, if you  proceed  to our more encyclopedic blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE.

Also, you can find lots of other verses on this blog under the listing "Poets' Corner" by clicking HERE.

SEP 15, Italian loanwords: vendetta

For this verse we must acknowledge the inspiration of "The Flea and the Fly", a verse of unknown authorship, sometimes mistakenly attributed to Ogden Nash. You can read more about this issue HERE.

 You can review our entire poetic outpouring about Italian loanwords by proceeding to a post on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'; click HERE. If you prefer, you could view most of this topically arranged material on Facebook, in Giorgio's photo-albums. (About 20% of those offerings consist of political satire or adult limericks, and you will have to be a 'friend' of Giorgio's to view that stuff.)

SEP 14, Ontario nostalgia: native cactus

 

 hidden cactus corner:
Allan Gardens Conservatory, Toronto

Authors' Note: Species of plants belonging to the cactus family are native only to America. Although they are generally heat-loving, a few species of the genus Opuntia are sufficiently cold-tolerant to live in parts of Canada. One of these, the eastern prickly pear, Opuntia humifusa, thrives in the US in dry areas such as along beaches on the Atlantic coastline, and some inland areas. At the northern limit of its range, in areas along the Great Lakes in Ontario (located centrally in Canada), this species has been susceptible to territory loss by severe winter storms and is now considered locally endangered. Three other species of low-growing cacti are still flourishing in the prairie provinces of western Canada.

There's a different story in other parts of the globe, where these and related species were relocated by human activities during and after the sixteenth century. Owing to their edible summer fruit, prickly pears are tolerated as invasives in parts of South Africa, southern Europe, Polynesia, South America, etc. However, the cochineal insect that feeds on the cactus in Mexico can be ground to produce a valuable brilliant red dye kmown as carmine or cochineal. British colonists established a cactus plantation in New South Wales in the early 1800s to supply a nascent dye industry. With hospitable conditions, sandy warm soil, there and in Queensland, these an other host cactuses spread quickly and vigorously, taking over a huge chunk of grazing and horticultural terrain, and are now prohibited throughout the island continent.

                                                  web-photo: Australian cactus infestation 

Resources on the web:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opuntia_humifusa
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/cactus

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. 

SEP 13, pluralia tantum: 'condolences'

 

Authors' Note: The above verse provides several further examples of the grammatical phenomenon pluralia tantum. An idiom associated with providing condolences for the family and friends of a single deceased person is to 'pay one's final respects'.

  Grandpa Greg asked us to pass on this message: "You can view the entire collection of verses about 'pluralia tantum' by clicking HERE." 

SEP 12, numbers: a dozen (12)

 You can review our cumulated nonsense about numbers by clicking HERE.

If you prefer, you could view most of this topically arranged material on Facebook, in Giorgio's photo-albums. (About 20% of those offerings consist of political satire or adult limericks, and you will have to be a 'friend' of Giorgio's to view that stuff.)

SEP 11, planet-saving verse: the fishmonger

                                                                         

Authors' Note:   As stocks around the planet have suffered from overfishing, the price of fresh wild fish has mounted incessantly. As of 2016, aquaculture has apparently resulted in over 50% of the global supply of this foodstuff, both marine and freshwater varieties. 

  Carp, catfish, Atlantic salmon and tilapia are the leading four types of fish currently involved, with recent improvements in the quality and reliability of farmed flatfish (turbot, flounder, halibut, etc.).

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

SEP 10, 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. 

SEP 9, ecto-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 pesty and occasionally beneficial insects, as  collected in 'Buzzwords: Verses about Insects' on the full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE (and keep following along 'til you get to the section on ecto-parasites).

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, goats at play (videos)

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 the lunch on the grass

Check out 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, a brief saga: (organic brain poetry) alcohol and beriberi

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.

This verse belongs to a series on organic causes of neuropsychiatric symptoms, including frontal meningioma, hypothyroid depression, general paresis of the insane, cerebral metastases and high-dose steroids.

 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. 

 Generally, OEDILF has not been enormously welcoming of multi-verse submissions, but Giorgio Coniglio has persisted, and there are now over 90 of these multi-verse poems feature in his "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.

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

 

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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!