NOV 23, palinku (poetic novelty): global warming

 

 In this post, we continue with our 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). 

   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. 

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

NOV 22, birdlore: desnooded

 

reprise from November 2020

NOV 21, birdlore: turkeys, desnooded (pre-holiday fling)

 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. 

NOV 21, defining opinion: hover

 Our blogpost "Defining Opinion" on the topic-based blog "Edifying Nonsense" shows a selection of similar verses submitted to OEDILF (the online Omnificent English Dictionary in Limerick Form). You can see all of these on one visit by clicking HERE.

NOV 20 (2023), singable satire for Thanksgiving: another pair-ody -- "TURKEY LEFTOVERS"

PASTICHE with PARODY LYRICS subbed into TWO WELL-KNOWN SEASONAL SONGS, another pairody.

ORIGINAL SONG#1: "The Christmas Song" (Chestnuts...), written by Wells and Tormé  in 1944, and recorded by the Nat King Cole Trio 1946.

ORIGINAL SONG#2: "Good King Wenceslas", John Mason Neale 1853, but often now mistakenly referred to as 'traditional'. Neale's piece, (based on accounts of the Bohemian Wenceslas legend, and a 13th century 'spring- carol tune) was highly criticized in the 1920s as "ponderous moral doggerel"; see the interesting description in the Wikipedia essay on this topic.

PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, January, 2015. 

PARODY-SONGLINK: To find ukulele chord-charts to help you accompany "Turkey Leftovers" on your favorite instrument, click HERE. 

TURKEY LEFTOVERS

(to the tune of The Christmas Song - "Chestnuts Roasting")

Essay featured in Economist,
Turkeys' origins disclosed -
Centerpiece of each year's Yuletide feast,
Subspecies bred in Mexico.

Dolts like me believed that gobblers and that Mid-East land -
Names were mere coincidence.
Ottomans, trading ships, caravans -
I understand, it now makes sense.

Each year I prove I'm such a goof,
I try create too late a spiffy Christmas spoof,
But with a month's delay I'll get it right
Helped by this article about "Turkey's Flight".

And so I'm offering this paraphrase
Of what the author claimed was true,
French - d'inde, and the Turks call them "hindi" - what jerks!
While in India, name in Hindi,
And in Portugal's "peru".

To the tune of "Good King Wenceslas")


Montezuma once bred fowl tastier than pheasant; 
Shipped the Spanish queen a thou - funky kind of present.
Isabella loathed the birds, trimmings too displeased her;
No use for leftovers, she didn't have a free-eezer.

'Turkeys', Moors, then Jews were banned from the royal kitchens;
Legend says that's how began Spanish Inquisition - 
Cortes later sacked the lands of the Aztec ruler.
Phil or Izz-and-Ferdinand ? Can't say which was cru-ueller.

Avian émigrés toured through, crowns of Europe hosting,
Though few of their lackeys knew oven-time for roasting.
Hot or cold and steep or flat, exiled birds were living,
Prospered in those countries that didn't have Thanksgi-iving.

Thus this misnamed flock did cope through the 16th century,
'ventually hens copped some hope with the English gentry.
For some time they settled down,  breeding they found boring,
Westward they shipped out again, restlessly explo-oring.

Turkeys in America, native home recovered,
Quirky and hysterical history discovered -
Essay we would clearly rank best of the Econ'mist,
Author we should dearly thank-(s)he remains anon-ymous.

NOV 19, exemplification: house

                                 

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

 

NOV 18, portraits of couples: broad-headed skinks, llamas

reprise from November 2020

NOV 18, portraits of couples: broad-headed skinks, llamas

 

Enjoy an illustrated poem about the broad-headed skink, Plestiodon laticeps by clicking HERE.

You can view these samples from our portfolio of 'Couples' portraits in a wider context on our full-service blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE.

NOV 17, Canadiana: urban portaging

 

a) reprise from November 2020

NOV 17, Canadiana: urban portaging

 

From the Archives: An Illustrated E-Mail about Urban Portaging, 2017

GxxHxxxxx <gxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>@gmail.com>
to Mike, Josh, Paul, Dr, Alec, Art, Marna, Eric

I encountered this on my late afternoon cycle-ride through trendy Rosedale on a rainy autumn afternoon. In its second year, 

this festival, I found out, brings together people portaging canoes across a 17 km ancient aboriginal trail between the

Humber and Don watersheds. At this point, the portagers had just crossed the Mt Pleasant Expressway.

b) current birdie-pic

                                         

               

NOV 16, sleek Greek prefixes: DIA- or DI- (DTaa)

 

a) reprise from November 2020

NOV 16, sleek Greek prefixes: DIA- (and DI-)

Authors' Note: Click HERE, for your entertainment, to review a verse about diarrhea; and HERE's another one, about diaphoresis (sweating).

 Clicking HERE will introduce you to our entire collection of verses about the Greek prefixes!

b) Decorative Touches 

 fabric art by R.C.H., presented with thanks

NOV 15, 2023: patients and their maladies: horseshoe kidney

 

Be sure to check out the multiple collections of verses on 'Patients and their Maladies" by proceeding to our full-service blog ,"Edifying Nonsense." CLICK HERE !

NOV 14, pandemic poetry: social distancing (DTz)

a)v reprise from November 2020

NOV 14, pandemic poetry: social distancing

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

b) Decorative Touches

 fabric art by R.C.H., presented with thanks

NOV 13, terminal (poetic) exclamation: KERPLUNK!

Authors' Note: Kerplunk is an onomatopoeic expression for the sound produced as a non-buoyant object suddenly sinks below the watery surface.

You can review our collection of poems on the topic of "Terminal Exclamation (Limerick Variations)" as it evolves on our more encyclopedic blog "Edifying Nonsense"; click HERE.  

NOV 12, Toronto ravines: art installations

a) reprise from November 2020

NOV 12, Toronto ravines: art installations 

 

 The sculpture is the work of the renowned Canadian innovator, naturalist and artist William Lishman.

If you are interested in winding your way through an encyclopedic collection of four blogposts stuffed with photo-collages on Toronto ravines, click HERE.

NOV 11, poetic non-sequitur: hoggishly

 

NOV 10 (2023), singable satire: a 'pair-ody' -- "ADENOMA"

 

PAIR-ODY-LYRICS, subbed into two songs (pair-ody is a neologism for a parody using a pair of original songs) .

ORIGINAL SONG#1: "Mona Lisa" , Nat King Cole, 1950 
ORIGINAL SONG#2. "Buona Sera", Louis Prima, 1956

PARODY COMPOSED: Giorgio Coniglio, December, 2014.

EXPLANATORY NOTE: Rudolf Virchow, 1821-1902, is regarded as "the father of modern pathology".

Benign tumours are discussed in various other short poems by the author, including "Benign tumours, a guidebook", and "Pat's adenoma". Facial nerve malfunction, including Frei's syndrome, after resection of benign or malignant salivary tumours is discussed HERE.

PARODY-SONGLINK: See the version of "Adenoma" designed for ukulele and guitar players on "SILLY SONGS and SATIRE" HERE.

ADENOMA

(to the tune of "Mona Lisa")

Adenoma, Adenoma, Virchow named you;

You’re a common lesion in the neck and face -

Presentation with an endocrine secretion,

Or a painless little lump that’s out of place.

pleiomorphic adenoma
     of the salivary gland           

We don’t understand your motives, Adenoma.
What strange factors make you spurn control and grow?
But your schemes don’t require exploration,
They’re revealed by needle aspiration.

Are you truly benign, Adenoma,
Or just an irksome Neoplasia’s little bro?

Are you truly benign, Adenoma

Or just an irksome Neoplasia’s little bro?
Adenoma, Adeno-o-ma.

(to the tune of "Buona Sera")

Sayonara, salivary Adenoma
I’ve engaged a surgeon trained in ENT.
In the morning, he’ll resect you from your bed there

For removal of the specter of malignancy.

By next evening, Adenoma, we’ll be separate -
You’ll be sliced and spread on slides for full review;
And my mouth-droop from that nerve you’ve cruelly damaged -
With its fibers freed, my smile might yet be salvaged.

In the long-term, I am better off without ya’
Sayonara, Adenoma, kiss me goodbye.
Hasta mañana, Adenoma; kiss me goodbye.

NOV 9, bi-lyrical limerick: 'a poet and his bros' (DTy)

a) reprise from November 2020

NOV 10, bi-lyrical limerick: 'a poet and his bros'

 Authors' note: We (i.e. Dr. G.H. and his registered pseudonym Giorgio) have two brothers who have each written a textbook in his chosen field of endeavour. Our personal choice, however, is to indulge in the delights of poetry, using rhyme rather than free verse as our preferred modality.  

Be sure to check out the whole collection of 'bi-lyrical limericks' by proceeding to "Edifying Nonsense." CLICK HERE ! 

reminiscence of South Carolina

b) Decorative Touches 

 fabric art by R.C.H., presented with thanks

NOV 8, postal places, Canada: Goose Bay and Gander, NL

 Authors' Note: NL is the official abbreviation for the Canadian province comprised of the Atlantic island of Newfoundland, and Labrador — the sparsely populated section of mainland Canada that borders the Atlantic Ocean to its north.
Gander, population 12,000, located on the island north of the capital of St. John's, had been founded in the 1930s as a refuelling stop for the expanding number of commercial transatlantic flights. It recently became famous as the recipient town for diverted passenger aircraft during the 9/11 debacle.

The town of Goose Bay, population 8000, now administratively known as Happy Valley - Goose Bay, is the largest settlement in the icy northern portion of the province. Founded in 1941, it was selected for its potential as a military airbase, and served that function throughout World War Two.

A terse story about "dangerous": A recent novice visitor from France, flying overnight to Toronto, sleepily noted the key towns on the plane's route-map, and wondered why "Danger" was prominently displayed near the country's east coast.

 At one swell foop, you can review all our postal poems about intriguing places in the USA and Canada, by proceeding to the encyclopedic blog "Edifying Nonsense". Click HERE !

NOV 7, submitted palindromes, targeted: "A MAN, A PLAN, A CANAL -- PANAMA"

For word nerds like us, who adore palindromes, hours of delight await  on our blog "Edifying Nonsense".

First of all, there  is a series of posts, on the 25th of each month (2020 through 2024) featuring collections of "submitted palindromes", attributable to the contributing authors shown above, constituting a loosely organized compendium of intriguing back and forth phrases; frequently, these are inspired by the "classic" palindrome repertoire, as is the case in today's offering as shown in the above slide.

Then, on the 20th of each month, original topic-based collections of wordplay items are displayed, often as "wordplay maps". These include anagrams and other forms of wordplay in addition to palindromes. However, the latter lexical device is honored in major outpourings including "New World Palindromes", "Old World Palindromes", "Magical Palindromes" and even a post on "The Meaning of Life as Revealed in Palindromes". 

The first three posts of each month on "Edifying Nonsense", (on the 5th, 10th and 15th), are the repository of short poetic verses, mostly limericks and "limerrhoids",  the majority of which have gone through rigorous collaborative editing on an online site. But even there, wordplay, particularly limericks are honored and discussed. So you can, by following the links, find some five collections (with eight verses each),  dealing  with the "Classic Palindrome Repertoire", not to mention  extensions displaying terse verses about the fabled "Palindrome Valley" and parodies about the "Panama Canal". 

And, even further, there is under construction a group of parody-songs honoring the classic palindromes. The song lyrics will be posted here, on this blog ("Daily Illustrated Nonsense") and also, with more musical direction on "Silly Songs and Satire."  We will update you when that project has been completed, but if you insist, you could sneak an advance peak at the song "Sin and Redemption".  

 b) recent birdie-pic

black-crowned night heron

NOV 6, W-I-P (DTx)

a) reprise from November 2020

NOV 6, wordplay map: r-i-c anagrams #7+#8

 

b) Decorative Touches 

 fabric art by R.C.H., presented with thanks