JAN 16, a brief saga: squid in the time of COVID

 

 For the purpose of this blog, a "brief (singable) 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. Don't forget to check out the musical version as well.

JAN 15, classic palindromes, 'no left felon'

Authors' Note: Apparently a few felons are politicians, and vice versa.

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

JAN 14, curtained verse: octogenarian sex

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 verses: Faintly Obscene (Selected) Limericks' on the full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'.

JAN 13, (re)duplication: fuddy-duddy

Authors' Note: 

(FUD-ee-dud-ee, or as a possibility here, fud-ee-DUD-ee)

Another example of a (re)duplication.

Readers willing to go down an internet rabbit-hole HERE can easily get to a collection of more than a dozen other short verses in which we have dealt with specific reduplications, as well as three fairly lengthy patter-songs about this fascinating linguistic phenomenon. 

JAN 12, Carolina lowcountry: photo-study of the Cooper River (Arthur Ravenel) bridge

This photogenic bridge, a part of US highway 17, links the historic city of Charleston, South Carolina, with the suburban town of Mt. Pleasant across the Cooper River. 

Photos were taken with the camera function on Giorgio Coniglio's i-phone 7, later upgraded to an i-phone 13. A few other pictures can be found in a pre-pandemic blogpost HERE. 

t-shirt motif

You can see this marvellous feat of engineering as rendered in fabric art by clicking HERE and HERE.

TO SEE MORE STUFF (poems, pics, peculiarities): To see older or newer material  (posted daily, or at least on most 'good' days), CLICK below the Comments Section, on 'Older Post' or 'Newer Post'.

JAN 11, patients and their maladies: gynophobia and gamophobia

A related verse dealing with "gamophobia" has recently become available..

 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!

JAN 10 (2023), singable satire: W-I-P

JAN 9, palinku (poetic novelty): family life

  In this post, we will continue with a novel form of poetic wordplay. Inspired by Japanese haiku poetry, this new form is used for a terse verse with a total of 17 syllables displayed on three lines. Unlike its classic Japanese analogue, this concoction does not mandate the precise distribution of the syllables among the three lines, but does stipulate that each word in the poem be included in a palindromic phrase or sentence in English (i.e. one that can be read either forwards or backwards). 

  To help the reader discern the origin of the lyrics, each palindrome (generally occupying one of the three lines of the poem) has been color-coded. 

  And, just in case you have forgotten what palindromes are about, your blogsite hosts have arranged a serial set of brief lessons on the topic ('Political Palindromes'); click HERE. 

 

(Ed. note:) Verses of this unique type have continued to accumulate. You can view them all at one swoop if you  proceed with a single click to our more encyclopedic blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE.

links for any date: scroll over to the calendar-based listings of 'Past Posts' in the righthand column on this page, and select (by clicking) the week of your choice.

 

JAN 8, mammalian wildlife: hoary marmots

Authors' Note: Living in the US Pacific Northwest, generally in sites 2500m (8,000 feet) or more above sea-level, and at lower elevations as well in British Columbia and Alaska, North America's largest ground squirrel (a relative of the prairie dog and woodchuck) lives an apparently idyllic life. An herbivore, it emerges to survey the mountain views while dining on vegetation, and spends its morning sun-bathing on the rocks. It avoids the inhospitable part of the year by hibernating in communal well-hidden burrows for seven months. The downside is provided by several predators, most notably golden eagles; unfortunately, its characteristic high-pitched alarm call (underlying nicknames like "whistle-pig") does not give complete protection when these dangers are present.

Whistler, BC, is a destination whose name is linked to this local mammalian resident. You can check out an illustrated verse about this town by clicking HERE (link available at the end of November 2023). 

You can review the whole collection of illustrated verses about mammals (both domestic and exotic) by checking out the more extensive post on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE !

JAN 7, objectionable adjectives: flaky (floccular)

 

Authors' Note: 

ovine: adjective pertaining to sheep
ovular: adjective pertaining to egg

A broad spectrum of adjectives, many abstruse and pedantic, are based on Latin roots. A few of these, like bovine and regular, have been fully adopted into modern speech patterns. Others, such as the pair ovine and ovular, are a source of confusion. A minority, including the relatively obscure floccular, do rhyme with each other, providing a benefit only to poets. Is floccular snow falling? The author finds that use flaky.

You can review our editorially selected doggerel (eight verses) relating to 'Objectionable Adjectives' by clicking HERE.

JAN 6, Canadiana: over-wintering waterfowl (downy)

Authors' Note: Ron, the anthropomorphic trumpeter swan, first appeared on this site in the verse 'trumpeter swan' in a blogpost dealing with waterfowl.

You can review poems, pictures and diverse nonsense related to Canada on the post "Canadiana" on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense".

JAN 5, American satire: impulse control

 

a) reprise from January 2020

JAN 11, American satire(1): impulse control

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

b) Giorgio's Lexicon of Binomials:

JAN 4, dental feelings: cavities

 

You can review the collection of illustrated verses on this topic by proceeding to the post 'Dental Feelings' on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'.

JAN 3, neologism (classic): hipsters vs hippies

Authors' Note: Readers might also enjoy the authors' verses dealing with the epicurean hippy, the prosthetic hipster, hip replacement, the hippocampus, and the Congolese hippodrome.

(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.

JAN 2, 2023, waterfowl: willets

 

You can review these illustrated verses in a wider context by proceeding to 'Immersible Verse: Limericks about Waterfowl' on the full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. (Or, if you prefer, you can view them on Facebook in Giorgio's photo-albums).

A

JAN 1, urban concerns: the tropical conservatory

Authors' Note: We are fortunate to have moved into an apartment building just across the street from a public conservatory whose warm, humid, glass-roofed galleries offer the visitor views and dreams of escape to tropical floral environments. Visits are especially reinvigorating on dark and depressing winter days, and admission is free!

You might also enjoy reviewing photo-enhanced poetry posts related to poinsettias, koi, red-eared sliders(turtles), Ontario cactuses, and Leda and the Swan at the same destination.

Our collection of illustrated poems about "Urban Concerns" on our parent blog "Edifying Nonsense", contains a number of intriguing verses that you can access by clicking HERE.

DEC 31, palinku (poetic novety): diapers

 

(Ed. note:) Verses of this ilk have continued to proliferate, and there are now more than 50. You can view them all at one swoop if you proceed with a single click to our more encyclopedic blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE.

links for any date: scroll over to the calendar-based listings of 'Past Posts' in the righthand column on this page, choose your year and then month of interest, and then select (by clicking) the post of your choice.

* DEC 31, HOGMANAY (New Year's Eve): Auld Lang's sine

reprise from December 31, 2020

DEC 31, a brief saga: Hogmanay (New Year's Eve)

 A HAPPY NEW YEARS TO ALL !!!

Incidental photo (start of 2023):

midnight scene from our Toronto aerie

 

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.

DEC 30 (2022), singable satire: "CAROINA WINTER MORNING"

PARODY-LYRICS

ORIGINAL SONG: "Carolina in the Morning" written 1922, best-known version is by Al Jolson.

PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, January 2014, in response to an unusual weather phenomonon.
You can also view these lyrics and commentary (without images or chords) displayed on a parody-lyrics website at AmIRight.com Post "Carolina Winter Morning".
PARODY-SONGLINK: To find ukulele and guitar chord-charts to help you accompany "CAROLINA WINTER MORNING" on your favorite instrument, click HERE.

Southern subdivision

Ravenel Bridge, SC,
from Mt Pleasant to Charleston
closed due to ice

Near Charleston harbor, Jan 2014

CAROLINA WINTER MORNING

(to the tune of "Carolina in the Morning")

Yankees call us whiners -  snow in coastal Carolina! ice-storm warning

Heat pumps, 'lectric stripping, so the breakers flip, they're tripping in the morning.

Where is global warming when we need it most? 

Weathering this month's storming, our palmetto trees are toast.

Bridges closed confine ya', snow in coastal Carolina; cancel meetings. 

Sleet looks so much neata' when you're cozied near the heata', if you've heating.

Towns don't have no snow ploughs, so just stay home, folks;

View through frosty windows icy Spanish-mossy oaks.

Blame the Great Designer, don't malign the coal strip-miners - no El Niño.

Random variation, polar air mass brings us Fahrenheit nineteen - oh!

If I had some winter treads and I wouldn't skid,

I'd skulk off further south, then boast what I did;

Something could refine the clime of coastal Carolina winter mo-o-orn-ings! 

DEC 29, ecto-parasites: bedbugs

                                     

                                            

             

Authors' Note:  Details of the allegory: The protagonist needed some vacation following a busy time of downsizing and changing residences. A few days prior to taking off on Snowbird flight 203, it became obvious that a domestic infestation of bedbugs, presumably acquired during the household move, had pre-empted his search for a subtropical respite. 

  Watson, the bedbug sniffer-dog (and his contollers) to the rescue!

Watson, the bedbug sniffer-dog

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).