MAR 19, reconstructive attitudes: planned demolition

 

Authors' Note: Contractors will describe the first phase of your tired old home's renovation as demolition, forgetting that, to the sensitive older homeowner, that term may conjure up visions of damage caused by aerial bombing, earthquakes or cyclones.

We will be posting a series of photocollages next week as the fun begins!

LEAD-IN PHOTOS

These pictures were taken from the sales information with the suite 'staged' in 2021.

front hall

kitchen

LR

master BR

master bath

ACTUAL PRE-RENO PHOTOS: 

You can view these on a post next week by clicking HERE

MAR 18, waterfowl: pescatarian choice

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'. 

MAR 17, pinkos (forward thinkers): vegetarianism

Authors' Note: The authors, Ontario anapestrians, have not eaten meat in two decades. The restaurant scene in Ontario, as in some other world-wide destinations, has gradually become more hospitable to vegan and vegetarian preferences, such as Theresa's and the authors'. This development can be attributed in part to our influx of newcomers from south and east Asia. Meat-eaters can still be readily accommodated, however.

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

You can review all the poems in our collection "Pinkos: forward thinkers" by clicking HERE.

MAR 16, birdlore -- Eastern towhees

 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. 

MAR 15, non-sequitur: percussion quartet

 The torQ Percussion Quartet at the Art Gallery of Ontario:

MAR 14, homophonous verse: a toast to French homophones

 You can review verses on this topic in a wider context on our full-service blog 'Edifying Nonsense'. Check the posts 'Savoir-Faire' by clicking HERE, and 'Homophonous Verse' by clicking HERE. 

MAR 13, at heart: torsade de pointes

Authors' Note: 

Torsade de pointes (tor-sad duh PWAnT), is an Anglo-French medical term for twisting of the peaks, named in 1966 by its French cardiologist discoverer. It is a pattern seen on the ECG (electrocardiogram), with 'twisting' or cycling of the height of the ventricular 'QRS' complexes, and is often associated with factors, inherited or acquired, that widen the 'Q-T' interval on the tracing. This pattern is associated with nasty ventricular arrhythmias and sudden death. If you are lucky, you have survived the initial episode and have correctable factors (e.g. electrolyte disorders, certain pharmaceuticals, etc.)

Flying straight is a casual metaphor associated with performing expected or routine function.

You can view more poems on this topic by proceeding to "Cardiologic Tracings: AT HEART" (parts #1 and #2) on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE! 

MAR 12, a-very-stable-genius, #2,#3

 

a) reprise from March 2020

MAR 12, anagram swarm: A-VERY-STABLE-GENIUS, #2/#3

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

b) Giorgio's Lexicon of Binomials

MAR 11, curtained verse: robin red-breast

 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'.

MAR 10, a brief singable saga: possessive adjectives and pronouns

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.  For this effort, we have used as the base song Carole King's "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow", and changed the title of our song to something more catchy.

  Click HERE to access ukulele and guitar chord-charts to help you accompany the song  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, 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.

 

MAR 9, palinku (poetic novelty): pets

  In this post, we  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') which you can review by clicking HERE. 

 

 

A limerick dealing with pets and vets can be found HERE.

(Ed. note:) Terse 'palinku' verses like today's offering 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 ! 

MAR 8, wordplay maps -- sister-cities anagrams (7-9)

 

a) reprise from March 2020

MAR 8, wordplay maps: sister-cities anagrams (7-9)

b) Giorgio's Lexicon of Binomials

MAR 7, urban concerns: in the distance

view on a foggy day

Authors' Note: 

Frequently, to increase the musical quality of the modifier, distant and distantly are rendered in song-lyrics and poetry as in the distance, or at a distance.

Another rather weird view of the city setting, highlighted in a short poem can be found HERE.

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.

MAR 6, exemplification: fauna

 To review our whole collection of "exemplary exemplifications", click HERE. 

MAR 5, Canadiana: (prairie) home

Authors' Note: In its evolution from poem to unofficial anthem, the iconic American song "Home on the Range" was known, for a time, as "Western Home". The lyrics evoke the wilderness surrounding settlements on the "High Plains" in the old west, but do not mention the construction techniques for homebuilding. With little timber available to build cabins in some areas, thick prairie grass could be used as a covering for dwellings, even allowing the cutting of standard door and window openings.

   In Canada, the geographically similar area bordering the American plains has been known almost exclusively as the Prairies. The author imagines that living in a sod hut ('soddy') on either side of the border would be a more inviting prospect for settlers once the herds of buffalo had been thinned out by overhunting (an environmental desecration that occurred in the latter part of the nineteenth century).

For further reading; 

1)https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/sod-houses  

2)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_on_the_Range

3)readers interested in understanding the human-buffalo interaction in modern times might also enjoy our further posts "Mammalian Wildlife: Buffalo", and "Selfie with Bison".

Alberta, 1908
web-photo, Glenbow Archives

WANT TO SING THESE LYRICS? WE CAN HELP!

If you have an undeniable urge to sing these lyrics, we have the tools to help. Grab your guitar or ukulele, remember the tune used for the verse of "Home on the Range"as sung by Gene Autry on YouTube HERE, and then follow the bouncing ball! 

Prairie Home    (uke-chords: E9 = 1222; A9 = 0102);

verse:

I'll con[D]struct us a [D7]home on a [G]large grassy [Gm]plot;

Only [D]building tools: [E9]shovels I [A7]bought.

With tech[D]nique skilled or [D7]shoddy,

The [G]hut called a [Gm]soddy

Has got [D]used on the [A9]Prairies a [D]lot.

Safe to [D]roam there, with [A7]bison herds [D]shot.

(optional chorus):

[D]Home on a [G]large Prairie [D]plot;

Walked ten [E9]miles for the groceries I [A7]bought.

Where [D]seldom is [D7]heard

A dis[G]couraging [Gm]word --

Sit a[D]round nights, swat [A7]bugs and smoke [D]pot.

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

MAR 4, magical canal palindromes -- Pisa

 

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; then, you could check how we applied this technique to 'canal palindromes' by viewing this more recent post.

MAR 3, signs of confusion: fourth collection

This post is the fourth in a series of 5. You can attempt to get all of this straight by reviewing the collections in the previous posts ...

signs of confusion #3
signs of confusion #2
signs of confusion #1

This post has been the fourth in a series of 5. If you have been having fun, you could soldier on and get all of this straight ...

signs of confusion #5

MAR 2, (re)duplication: holus-bolus