BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 21 May 09 - 04:37 PM

I'd rather listen to Swedish folk, Smokey - whatever the rhyme structure! ;-)>

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: GUEST,Smokey
Date: 21 May 09 - 01:30 PM

So good they named them twice :-)

I see what you mean about the rhyming, I'm just pedantic about misused plurae.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 21 May 09 - 01:25 PM

What I do know, Smokey, is that the rhyme scheme of "ENTRÉE" (above) is abbaabba.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: GUEST,Smokey
Date: 21 May 09 - 01:05 PM

If you had a room full of clairvoyants, would they be called media?
Would they need to be told in advance?

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Stu
Date: 21 May 09 - 05:54 AM

"God created evolution"

LOL!

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 21 May 09 - 04:50 AM

Poem 161 of 230: AT THE CAPTAIN COOK BIRTHPLACE MUSEUM - SUMMER 2001

I listened and looked and read, then wrote,
    Within the remarks book, this brief note:
"Aborigines - first there/worst off"...
    And received a Rule Britannia cough.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: mandotim
Date: 21 May 09 - 03:12 AM

Doris Stokes! (Sorry, thought it was a crossword clue...)

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: GUEST,Smokey
Date: 20 May 09 - 08:10 PM

Medium..

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 20 May 09 - 04:34 AM

Poem 130 of 230: ENTRÉE/AT BOLTON'S ALBERT HALL: OPERA SONG - WINTER 2000/1

(TUNE:

G A B C' B
C' D' C' B
B C' B D' D'
G E D C
C' E' F' E' E'
E' E' D' C'
C' E' F' G' G'
G E D C)

From novel, and play,
To opera,
La Traviata
Was my entrée
To a media
I find is a
Fine way to relay
Human drama.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 19 May 09 - 04:46 AM

(As no-one else is posting nowadays, I've noticed it takes about 24 hours to go from top to bottom here, as a matter of interest.)

Poem 24 of 230: THROUGH SOUTH-EAST ASIA

A highlight of South-East Asia -
    As with other tropical lands -
Is the abundance of fresh fruits:
    At cutting which some have deft hands.
And, from these fruits, I'd often choose -
    To cool down from tropical heat -
A freshly prepared coconut:
    Chopped to drink; lining scooped to eat.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 18 May 09 - 04:23 AM

Poem 141 of 230: IN A SMALL POT

(TUNE:

D F# F# F#
G F# E E
D E E E
F# E D D)

I like Acers
    But rent a flat,
So mimic one
    In a small pot:

As for starters,
    I made a plat
Of ivy run
    Out from one spot;

To this basis,
    All round the mat,
In a trunk-bun,
    Dirt - soaked a lot;

Without traces
    (Not got down pat),
A moss-lawn spun
    And short-ferns shot;

And, like Acers,
    Branches have sat -
Wirework done -
    Toward the pot;

Trimmed with scissors,
    This foliage-hat
Thrives in the sun
    Of my sill-plot.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 17 May 09 - 05:23 AM

Poem 95 of 230 A GOOD LIFE

To fauna,
    Home-flora.
Sheep for wool -
    Fed till full.
Chooks for eggs -
    Free-range legs.
Milk from cows -
    Should well house:
Better grade
    Can be made.
Fish for game -
    Cut the pain.
Dogs for pets -
    No regrets.
And question
    Castration.

This does say
    Buddha's way,
And Blake's way:
    A good life -
For all life.

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And further on "To fauna, home-flora", I shall try and post the following piece of prose here, as yesterday I was prevented from re/staring a thread on native gardening - which the BBC, on Gardeners' World e.g., seem to be moving more-and-more away from, sadly...

Green gardening is native gardening, and vegetables, plus other consumables, should be the only exotic-flora we plant - as doing so can help limit food-miles, etc. By filling our other garden spaces with natives, we use less water and other resources, whilst aiding the native-fauna that, over the centuries, have evolved with them.
(Even high-nectar exotics, such as Buddleia, that are very attractive to SOME native-fauna, should be avoided, because they upset nature's/God's balance – God created evolution, too, that is.)
Our green gardens, with their vegies and natives, can be made still greener by the addition of compost heaps/bins; a wildlife pond – for native frogs, newts, etc, rather than exotic goldfish; bee- and bird-boxes, plus carefully selected feeders; rain- and grey-water vats; by growing everything organically, including thrifty home-propagation/species-swapping; and by leaving some lush untidy patches, decaying branches, etc.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 16 May 09 - 04:46 AM

Poem 32 of 230: THE POLYNESIAN CULTURAL CENTRE

North, on the warm island of Oahu
    There's a really good place to see:
The Polynesian Cultural Centre -
    A centre linked by Christianity;
It's run by a broad-minded Christian group,
    Championing cultures while they preach.
I talked to a few of the kind members,
    And here's an abstract of their speech:

The employees are all uni. students,
    Labouring for their study and board;
They come from many Pacific islands,
    And are all believers in their Lord;
They are studying for varied degrees,
    And working at a number of jobs;
Some work as cultural entertainers,
    While others serve the tourist mobs.

I walked around for more than half a day,
    Then went to a skilled stage-show at night.
By day, the different island nations
    Do shows at their own cultural site;
There's good Tahitian cooking to be tried,
    Tamure dancing and hula, too.
Plus, at night, dramatic fire-walking,
    Drums and song, to name you but a few.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 15 May 09 - 06:29 AM

...Poem 101 of 230: JUST SUBSIST

(TUNE:

D F# G G A A G G
D A B B A A G G
D B B B A A G G
D A A A B A G G,
D A A A B A G G)

At times when I've had time to take,
    I've thought of a plot by a lake:
The plot would be of fertile ground;
    The lake would have some trout around.

The plot's house would be made of brick -
    Well insulated, in good nick.
And, round this abode, there'd be built -
    Solar panels, kept at best tilt.

Inside large coops would run the legs
    Of chooks and quails - for fresh eggs.
A vine for grapes plus summer shade;
    And, in thin beds, vegetables laid.

Up at dawn, to use all sunlight -
    Fish and farm by day, read at night.
A spouse with me I'd not resist -
    In retirement, we'd just subsist.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: GUEST,Smokey
Date: 14 May 09 - 06:14 PM

Although you're retired from versification,
   No longer do travel or multiplication,
I'm forced to admire such courageous devotion
   As ventures, I'll wager, 'cross mountain and ocean
To sample the simple delights of a potion
   I whinge about fetching from Morrison's.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 14 May 09 - 04:01 PM

"Blended Indian's my tipple" (Smokey)...I knew very little of Darjeeling and it's nice walks, plus some agitation in 1988 - I went the long way from Calcutta to Nepal, including a ride on top of a bus, simply to try the tea there.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: GUEST,Smokey
Date: 14 May 09 - 02:59 PM

Blended Indian's my tipple, but just to be droll,
   Its finest companion - Moroccan roll.
The kettle is sacred; forget it you not,
   But the secret of good tea is always the pot.
To brew in the mug is ne'er quite satisfact'ry,
   It offendeth the delicate senses olfact'ry.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 14 May 09 - 04:42 AM

...Poem 94 of 230: MOROCCAN TEA

Here's a hint
    Concerning mint.
It's very brief:
    Just pick a leaf
From the backyard,
    And wash if marred;

Leaf, bag, in mug,
    Boil the jug,
Pour in and stir,
    Oust the former.
It's easy, see -
    Moroccan tea...

Well, 'tis roughly.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: GUEST,Smokey
Date: 13 May 09 - 06:19 PM

Through diligent research it has been found out,
That mugs break just as easily with or without.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 13 May 09 - 04:39 AM

...Poem 207 of 230: REGARDING DRUG ABUSE

Whenever I'm feeling bad,
    I try to change my thinking -
Another poem, a fad...
    Or let time do its passing.
For it's weak to abuse drugs,
And drug abuse weakens mugs...

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Amos
Date: 12 May 09 - 02:32 PM

Not Nash, surely McGonagle and an autistic teenage druggie, or some such marriage from hell...



A

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Bill D
Date: 12 May 09 - 02:15 PM

Been trying to decide what I am reminded of. Couldn't place it, so I let my imagination wander.


If Emily Dickenson and Ogden Nash had an affair and produced an offspring, and taught it poetry, and it took LSD and drank Budweiser while it strived to emulate Mom & Dad..

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 12 May 09 - 04:51 AM

Haven't played golf for about a decade, but before that...

Poem 97 of 230: COLLECTING THE CARDS

Some folks are plant diehards,
    Others keep foreign coins;
Twitchers collect sightings,
    And golfers their scorecards.

My hobby's the latter,
    And, in many places,
I've managed just one round -
    Scores? Another matter!

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 11 May 09 - 10:56 AM

For golfers in the rough, then, Stu, we better leave it as "plumb duff".

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: s&r
Date: 11 May 09 - 10:39 AM

...and you do know that plum duff is slang for homosexual?

Stu

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 11 May 09 - 09:59 AM

Thanks MT - that definitely is a mistake (of six years standing, frankly), which I shall fix shortly...owe you a "jar at the bar"!

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: mandotim
Date: 11 May 09 - 09:25 AM

And in this sense, 'Putt' has two t's. Otherwise, the line makes no sense. The poem is not bad, for a hammered together collection of ancient golfing cliches.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 11 May 09 - 09:15 AM

Again, true Stu - but, whilst my dictionary gives "choicest part" for "plum", it also gives "exactly" for "plumb"..?

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: s&r
Date: 11 May 09 - 05:27 AM

and plum duff doesn't have a 'b'

Stu

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 11 May 09 - 05:24 AM

True - there's no possible confusion in that line MT, but fried and egg do appear together a lot..?

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: mandotim
Date: 11 May 09 - 04:51 AM

Fried-egg????? Since when did this need a hyphen?

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 11 May 09 - 04:41 AM

Poem 144 of 230: LINGOLF

(TUNE:

Eb G G G A A
A Bb C' C' C' Bb
Eb F G A A A
F A Bb G G G)

Your honour, Your Honour.
    Watch out - he's a burglar.
I'm to school on your put.
    That's one heck of a cut!

It's my bread and butter -
    A left-to-right cutter.
That's where elephants die.
    That's a grave - not a lie.

I'm in the old plumb-duff;
    Tough - I'm on the cut-stuff.
The hooks with my driver,
    And fades with my putter.

There's a goalie in there.
    Trees are some nine-tenths air.
I have a soldier's plight -
    Always left, right, left, right.

Everything was fine -
    Apart from weight and line.
It took a member's bounce.
    A rare bird to announce.

An unlucky horseshoe.
    Had a look - liked the view.
Poetry in motion.
    Read with blind devotion.

He's just hit a cracker.
    I'm only a hacker.
I wish I'd missed the well.
    A fried-egg where it fell.

A crop of a divot.
    It was speed that killed it.
Your wedges land so neat -
    Butterflies with sore feet.

Like pitching in pudding.
    Never up, never in.
Drive for show, put for dough.
    Can't beat bad luck, you know.

He's just missed a gimme.
    That, then, would be dormy.
It went in the side-door.
    A Bradman of a score.

Just spoiled a good walk.
    Can't play, but can he talk!
'Twas daylight robbery.   
    Not "how" but "how many."

The nineteenth's not too far -
Have a jar at the bar..?

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: GUEST,Smokey
Date: 10 May 09 - 10:11 PM

'Tis foolish whim,
    Nay - almost folly
To watch folk drive,
    From a grassy knolly.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 10 May 09 - 12:30 PM

No - it's grassed over, SC, and, as I say, allows a nice view of the, also verdant, golf course there. Now all you need is either some kind of navigation system or, better still, you could hold with you, as you walkabout, the very poem "The Mersey at Didsbury" in your heart.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Spleen Cringe
Date: 10 May 09 - 11:19 AM

A mersey mound
Weighs but a pound
Stepped on, it makes a squelching sound
It's small and round
And on the ground
Where it was squeezed out by a hound

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Spleen Cringe
Date: 10 May 09 - 11:16 AM

"a Mersey mound"

Eek! What's one of those? Is it something I should avoiding stepping in next time I'm in Didsbury?

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 10 May 09 - 06:08 AM

Poem 227 of 230: ROTATING SHIFTS

There will always be places
    That need to be staffed
Twenty-four hours a day,
    But I think it's daft
To rotate bodies and minds
    Around any craft...

The better way seems to be
    Penalty-rates paid
For three fixed eight-hour shifts -
    With adjustments laid,
By those choosing to work nights,
    For sleep to be made.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 09 May 09 - 04:44 AM

...maybe this post will move the thread back up, again..?

Poem/Song 111 of 230: THE MERSEY AT DIDSBURY

(TUNE:

Eb F G Ab G
D F G Ab G
D F G Ab G
D G Ab Bb Ab
D G Ab Bb Ab
D F G Ab G)

Took bus one-four-three,                        
    From Piccadilly,
Along Oxford Road;
    Passed the old uni's,
Those shops with saris,
    And my first abode.

At Didsbury Village,
    The Old Parsonage
Looked neat, and gave sound,
    As I walked the way,
At about midday,
    To a Mersey mound.

From atop this bank,
    No longer a blank
Was the strong river,
    Nor the wide fairways -
Where I'd filled two days,
    Twelve years earlier.

I then headed back,
    On Stenner Woods' track
(Hearing more birdsong,
    And seeing mossed stumps
Plus well-layered clumps),
    To a human throng.

This throng was viewing -
    Justly pursuing -
The smart Rock Gardens,
    Sloped on Fletcher Moss,
Which I, too, did cross,
    Before homeward wends.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 08 May 09 - 05:22 AM

Poem 41 of 230: EVEN AFTER LINCOLN, STEINBECK, AND KING

Written at a public toilet by the
    Statue of Liberty:
"What of Equality, Fraternity;
    And Democracy!?"

The U.S.A. has aided dictators -
    Right-Wing leaders, of course;
So some's bestowal of democracy
    Is hypocrisy.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 07 May 09 - 09:25 AM

Nothing at all against the starter of the, atop, "Really Really Important Poem" thread - just baffled as to why this poetry thread was booted down?

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 07 May 09 - 04:32 AM

Poem 16 of 230: A BEAUTIFUL STAGE

If a couple, with plans to wed,
    Asked me, off the top of my head,
For somewhere I thought well in-tune
    As a place for a honeymoon,
It would have - flashing back - to be
    Beautifully-honed Italy.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 06 May 09 - 04:37 AM

Poem of 160 of 230: MACCLESFIELD - SUMMER 2001

After hearing the ways
    Of the old silk-weaving trade,
While being served some tea,
    Within the Mulberry Tree,
Memories came back to me
    Of - during my infant days -
Feeding 'worms till sheaths were made.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 05 May 09 - 05:53 AM

Poem 163 of 230: ON A CLEAR DAY - SUMMER 2001

Far - the Lakelands behind Blackpool Tower;
    Well-ebbed - the ocean and estuary;
Odd - a sand-digger and wagons that cross;
    Tonal - the flats left by tidal power;
Patched - the grasses surviving the big tides;
    Plonked - the driftwood sprouted in other lands;
Clinging - the coastal flora to the dunes;
    Busy - the bees and folks on Southport rides.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Stu
Date: 05 May 09 - 04:54 AM

200!

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Stu
Date: 05 May 09 - 04:54 AM

By coach from central Manchester -
    In-between stops at Bolton,
Carlisle and Hamilton -
    To Glasgow, my grollies are polyester.

. . . or . . .


By coach from central Manchester -
    In-between stops at Bolton,
Carlisle and Hamilton -
    To Glasgow home of Rab, the string-vester.

. . . or . . .

By coach from central Manchester -
    In-between stops at Bolton,
Carlisle and Hamilton -
    To Glasgow, where liveth many a Buckfast investor.


. . . or . . .

By coach from central Manchester -
    In-between stops at Bolton,
Carlisle and Hamilton -
    To Glasgow, where Whelks never fester.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 04 May 09 - 04:54 PM

Thanks, Stu - I think I'll change it to:

By coach from central Manchester -
    In-between stops at Bolton,
Carlisle and Hamilton -
    To Glasgow, these are sights I saw...

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: s&r
Date: 04 May 09 - 04:38 PM

'These things I saw' would be English and nearly rhyme with Manchester, particularly in local pronunciation

Stu

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: mandotim
Date: 04 May 09 - 02:28 PM

By all means use 'vista', just don't use it as a verb! I see this particular effort dates from your 'superfluous hyphens' period. I think I prefer the 'excessive commas' period myself. What do others think?
Tim

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 04 May 09 - 02:12 PM

It's abba, so you come up with a better rhyme than "vista" with "Manchester", Mister.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: mandotim
Date: 04 May 09 - 01:36 PM

WAV; even poetic licence should make sense. 'Vista' is a noun, not a verb. Have you got a poetic license, or did you fail on reversing couplets and three-point stanzas?
Tim