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Saturday, January 30, 2010

Sunday Scribblings #200

A NanoAmerico^ for Sunday Scribblings.

The prompt this week is Milestone.

Here's my attempt :

Five miles back to Hell, five miles to the beach. Only the milestone stood between her, the devil, and the deep blue sea. Which way to go?

30012+10/2


This is my NanoAmerico^ it consists of an Allen Ginsberg style American Sentence, sandwiched between two Iota sentences of ten syllables each or less. You can play too, at The American Sandwich game..

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Three Word Wednesday CLXXIV

Written for and posted to 3WW
The words this week are:
Beacon, Grieve, and Kindred.

Here's mine:

Greed or nice bank dive?
come from these three little words
BEACON GRIEVE KINDRED
Which are an anagram of
Cave binge drinker ode!
27012+10


Please note I've moved
the NanoAmerico^ to here

Monday, January 25, 2010

Friendships

Posted to Monday Poetry Train Revisited
and The American Sandwich game..

Here's an American Sentence:

Lovers come and go, friendships wax and wane, memories last forever.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Yes of Course!

A NaiSaiKu for Sunday Scribblings
and at Carry on Tuesday the prompt is:
A room hung with pictures is
a room hung with thoughts.
A quote by Joshua Reynolds.

Here's mine:

For ye thinking Scouse
Is a room hung with pictures
A ROOM HUNG WITH THOUGHTS?
Is a room hung with pictures
thinking? Yes of course.
24012+10

Have you seen the NanoAmerico^  on the new sandwich menu at The American Sandwich game..???

Friday, January 22, 2010

ChooseDayChoice #1

This weeks sentence is:
She rocked the cradle so violently that even the voodoo doll screamed.

Here's mine:

VOODOO DOLL
"Oh, what a perfect day!" she exclaimed, opening the bedroom curtains. She rocked the cradle so violently that even the voodoo doll screamed. Picking it up, she stuffed its head between the springs under the snare drum.
230709

This was originally written for a 3WW prompt and you can find the original post HERE.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Three Word Wednesday CLXXIII

written for and prompted by 3WW
the words this week are:
Ideal, Measure, and Teeter.

Here's mine:

AN IDEAL HUSBAND
She wanted her ideal husband to measure up, not teeter about. But, even John Wayne would teeter on the brink of her ideal measure. He surprised her, by shooting from the hip, like his Western counterpart.
20012+10

An anagram of
Esteemed evil at rear
With rehashed words is
IDEAL MEASURE TEETER
Which can be read as
A re-teet leader I muse
O anagram fan
20012+10/1

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Tuesday What??

and a daft one for The NaiSaiKu Challenge?

LITTLE BLACK BOOK DEF
Then there's Diane, Debbie and Dawn and all the D's in the dictionary. Eva, Eve and Evalyne for ever and ever eternally. Franny, Francis, Fran, foremost for femininity, for most? for me!
19012+10

OH KIDDO!
The Haiku kigo is the kiddo of an American Sentence. A kiddo is a character, it could be simply a he or she. For kigo read saijiki, for kiddo check your book of baby names.
12012+10

KALEIDOSCOPE EYES
He goes on about his kaleidoscope eyes, ever since she smacked him. Although, he did always say that he could see the bubbles in the air. Do you really think that he can see things, or is he shitting us up?
12012+10/1

eyemaxfractalme
kaleidoscopeprojection
BUBBLESINTHEAIR
kaleidoscopeprojection
eyemaxfractalme
                                                                        19012+10/1 
HOME PAGE 

SOAK IT UP

SOAK IT UP
Many of the poems I write could be songs, sometimes they start out that way, because I find it easier to remember things if they have a tune. And all my poems do, each and every one of them has an internal tune that I can remember it by. I can go back to my old poems and sing each one, straight off the page. Why am I telling you all this nonsense? I really don't know, apart from by way of introduction to the following song. Song? why is it a song? Well it's a song because I wrote it for Cliff Richard, only joking, but I did write a song for Cliff once, honestly. Of course he didn't use it, why would he? Anyway, the real reason that this piece is a song is because it sings itself to me, as opposed to me singing the line to myself. It's something to do with the repetition of the catchy bit, the thing that real songwriters call the hook.

SOAK IT UP
This could be our last
chance to get it on
we're getting out of
here before too long

So soak it up go soak it up
it won't be long you heard it here
so soak it up go soak it up

'cos very soon we'll
all be going up
into the atmosphere
to soak it up

So soak it up go soak it up
it won't be long you heard it here
so soak it up go soak it up

Such a beautiful day
so let's go fly
up above the clouds
and the clear blue sky

So soak it up go soak it up
it won't be long you heard it here
so soak it up go soak it up
18012+10/1

Monday, January 18, 2010

Carry On Tuesday #36

Written for and posted to carry on tuesday
also posted to MondayPoetryTrainRevisited.

The prompt this week is from Robert Browning's
Grow Old Along With Me
Grow old along with me
the best is yet to be.


I used the line the best is yet to be, which I inserted into
the rewriting/updating of a piece I wrote a few years back.
The original poem is a stand alone piece and todays offering
is to be treated as something new, which it is, because I have
something new and fresh to say on the matter. Phew!

                                                                            
GOT YOUR LETTER
(STILL)
I got your letter yesterday
How I wish you could come to stay
Even though you're so far away
You wrote a note to say that you
Miss me need me want me love me

You are my sun you are my moon
You are my lyric and my tune
You are my midnight and my noon
So please please come back some day soon

Miss you need you want you love you
Don't you know that I love you too?

Although that was five years ago
Nothing's changed I still love you so
The best is yet to be you know
Oh yeah, have you still got my ring?
I want you more than anything

You are my sun you are my moon
You are my lyric and my tune
You are my midnight and my noon
So please please come back someday soon

Miss you need you want you love you
Don't you know that I love you three? 
Repeat
W112-RW241107-17012+10  

Last weeks Carry On Tuesday post for anyone who missed it!  

Don't forget The NaiSaiKu Challenge? and The American Sandwich game..                                             

Saturday, January 16, 2010

One Single Impression Prompt 99

The prompt at One Single Impression is: Chaos.

Here's an American Sandwich:

FIFTEEN SECONDS OF SHAME
Chaos reigned in his dreams, he thought it was her he was making love with. She was so squishy when they kissed, she felt so real, so hot in his arms. He had wanted her for so long, but she was just another bad dream.
16012+10

Here's a link to one I did for you last year:
Clink- Me-Here.. The Spectral Tarsier.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Three Word Wednesday CLXXII

Written for and prompted by 3WW
and posted to The NaiSaiKu Challenge? and ABC Wednesday.

The 3WW words this week are:
Zeal Jolt and Ribbon.

Here's mines :
I wrote a blotz poem in the NaiSaiKu style.

J-Bolt Iron blaze
which is an anagram of
ZEAL JOLT RIBBON
which is an anagram of
Jail Borne Blotz
13012+10/1

Don't you know? 
It's NEVER too late to take  
The NaiSaiKu Challenge?

Monday, January 11, 2010

carry on tuesday #35

A NaiSaiKu and an American Sandwich
written for and posted to carry on tuesday


This week the prompt is part of the opening line of
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens:
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

Here's mine:

TIMES NEW ROMAN
It was the best of times new roman, although, it was the worst of times. It looked better in Italic, than in bold, although, both might work too. It was the best of times, although, it was the worst of times new roman.
11012+10/1

Worst times best
Best times worst times best
BEST TIMES BEST
best times worst times Best
best times Worst
11012+10/2

Step up and play  
The American Sandwich game.. 
and don't forget to take
The NaiSaiKu Challenge?
New post next Tuesday!

SWAN LANE
Boots strapped on, he's dancing down streets where puppy dogs meet and big dogs mate. He strolls the alley, where Gordon met his fate, and rats come up for air. Watching his ankles, hat over his eyes, that's not snow when pigeons fly.
10012+10

MUSIC STREET
(back story)
I once wrote a stage play called Music Street, although I'm not sure if 'stage play' isn't a bit over the top, I do remember at the time I called it a Music Play. Anyway, it was an all singing all dancing production written for the stage. It was set in a Manchester street, which has long been demolished. The name of the street was New Brown Street and the first street off it on the left, if you were coming from Market Street, was called Swan Lane. In my Music Play I changed the name of New Brown Street to Music Street and Swan Lane to Swan Lake. The play was about two teenage gangs and the first half of it was set in 1969 when the area was starting to be boarded up ready for the pending demolition. The second act was set ten years later in 1979 after a new indoor shopping centre had been constructed. But you don't really need to know all this, it's just my long winded way of telling you that the ABOVE^ American Sandwich poem is based on one of the original songs from the first act.

Don't forget to play
 NEW post every TUESDAY!

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Sunday Scribblings #197

Written for and posted to Sunday Scribblings
The prompt today is Extreme.
Also posted to The NaiSaiKu Challenge?

Here's mine:

Extreme climate change
This is the global warming
FOUR MINUTE WARNING
This is the global warming
Extreme climate change
10012+10

Have you taken The NaiSaiKu Challenge? yet??

Saturday, January 09, 2010

American Sandwich

Written for and posted to
Here's a little something from my old somebodies address book :
LITTLE BLACK BOOK ABC
Avril, Angela and Annette and all the A's in the alphabet. Billie and Bobbie and Bernadette, all of the blondes and the brunettes. Carol, Cathy and Caroline, and all the C's in the chorus line.
09012+10
You can tweet andysewina at twitter, cheap cheep... 


Have you taken The NaiSaiKu Challenge? yet???

Thursday, January 07, 2010

Wendy Naisa

BUY MY BOOK
Proper Trog and Other Nursery Nonsense
is a poetry booklet (chapbook) that I wrote
when my son Jack was a baby.
It is a print-on-demand-title and all of the cover
price goes to the Manchester Ataxia charity.
clink-da-link-then!

Phew, Wendy's prompts are back Online from today,
so I'm going to do a little NaiSaiKu for the Challenge?

Posted to The NaiSaiKu Challenge?
and PoetsWhoBlog

Left on time
Snow time like wet feet
NO TIME LEFT
Wet feet like most wine
Felt no time
07012+10

How to write a
NaiSaiKu..

First of all I must stress that NaiSaiKu..
is a just for fun form of poetry.
It’s not meant to be taken seriously by real poets or by academics.

I started by writing a three-line poem with a strict syllable count.
I didn’t know where to put the title so I tagged it on the end
making it into a four-line poem.
I then repeated the previous three lines in reverse order to give
me a seven-line poem of two stanzas linked by a central TITLE.
Here’s an example:

Skating on the pond
If the ice cracks don’t go on
Hippopotamus
SKATING ON THE POND
Hippopotamus
If the ice cracks don’t go on
Skating on the pond

I liked the way this looked with its capitalised TITLE and where possible
I also coloured this in blue. If you look at the above example you’ll
notice that the title is the first and last line repeated.
The strict syllable count here is 5-7-5 plus of course 5 for the TITLE.
Giving a total count of 39 syllables. However, this was only the beginning…

Next I looked at different ways of building a NaiSaiKu..
the following example shows how you can use 41 syllables by making the
second and sixth lines read the same as the TITLE.
Here’s an example:

This is a sandwich
I am the meat and two veg
I'm a slice of bread
I AM THE MEAT AND TWO VEG
I'm a slice of bread
I am the meat and two veg
This is a sandwich

Now if the aim of NaiSaiKu.. was to keep to a strict syllable count and
to impose an immovable discipline, then the above form would be the one I would choose because it can be read in so many ways. It’s no longer just two stanzas
with a daft central TITLE it can now be read as three separate Haiku or Senryu
the first three lines, the middle three, and the last three. Phew!

So, if I could move the title from the first line to the second line and increase the
syllable count why couldn’t I use the third line as the TITLE and decrease
the syllable count again? Of course that’s exactly what I did next!
Here’s an example:

You tell them three times
Then they think that they told you
Who the hell yell you
WHO THE HELL YELL YOU
Who the hell yell you
Then they think that they told you
You tell them three times

I like the way this reads, it’s a good form if you really want to shout something out!

You may have noticed that the titles are colour coded.
I use blue for the first style red for the 41 syllable form and pink for the
central repetition of lines 3 and 5.
For a more modern approach I highlight the TITLE in green.

So far we’ve only looked at strict form or restricted poetry as some people may call it.
I set my work out in this way because I was comfortable with a strict 5 – 7 – 5 syllable old English Haiku style and I found it worked well for me.

Because NaiSaiKu.. is just a bit of fun!
I have made no attempt to enter into or emulate the spirit
of either traditional or modern Haiku of which there are
many excellent examples available on the World Wide Web.

Finally you can create your own NaiSaiKu..
in a modern style without any syllable restriction if you like,
or you can try a 3 – 5 – 3 or a 2 – 3 – 2 or a short – long – short or a
der – der – der or a singing – rhyming – chiming one
if the mood or your muse takes you there.
Here’s an example of the 2 – 3 – 2 syllable form:

Spring dawn
Cats come home
First light
SPRING DAWN
First light
Cats come home
Spring dawn

Or for a really neat look you could build it like this:

Spring dawn
Cats come home
FIRST LIGHT
Cats come home
Spring dawn

And a rhyming example:

Hippopotawot
Hippopotawotamus
Hippopotamus
HIPPOPOTAWOT
Hippopotamus
Hippopotawotamus
Hippopotawot

Or this way:

Hippopotamus
Hippopotawotamus
HIPPOPOTAWOT
Hippopotawotamus
Hippopotamus

Finally finally, you can of course convert an existing
Haiku into a NaisaiKu.. if you really want to.

Here's the trick - You take a well written modern Haiku like the 2-3-2 below:

Dry slopes
on the piste
wet snow

Then you add the TITLE:

Dry slopes
on the piste
wet snow
ON THE PISTE

Then you add the second stanza which is a reverse of the first,
and hey presto you have just built a NaiSaiKu..

Dry slopes
on the piste
wet snow
ON THE PISTE
wet snow
on the piste
dry slopes

But 'old on a mo', we ain't finished yet 'cos now we're gonna go full circle
and reveal the Emperor's new clothes:

Dry slopes on the piste
wet snow on the piste wet snow
on the piste dry slopes

Remember that if you use somebody else’s work
you will usually need their written permission before you can publish it or post it Online.

In conclusion, NaiSaiKu.. can rhyme or not rhyme, they can be built to a strict syllable
form or they can be free verse. I think that the only thing that actually sets them
apart or perhaps makes them unique is the fact that the TITLE is CAPITALISED
and is placed in the centre of the piece. Most of the examples we have looked at
have seven lines including the TITLE LINE but there's nothing to stop you
from experimenting with more lines or from adding puns and metaphor
or even from changing the order of the way the words go, like in this
example, from our Stan, at Elephant Small
COST OF REVERSAL
which can be read back to front.

At the end of the day NaiSaiKu.. is Just a bit of fun!

Andy Sewina
060209

If you would like to be part of the evolution of NaiSaiKu..
and write your own example.
Simply post it on your own blog or web site and leave a link in the comments box
on this post so we can all read your contribution.
Many thanks for reading this and if you do leave a link in the comments box
I'll add you to the Bloggage! unless you ask me not to... Phew!

And feel free to stick The NaisaiKu Challenge? game on your blog roll too!

Monday, January 04, 2010

HAPPY NEW THINGY!

BUY MY BOOK
Okay, so you've got loads of money and nothing to spend it on, right? Well look no further, this is your opportunity to BUY MY BOOK . You see, I've got a few of my little poetry books that I used to sell for beer money (at the different pub-poetry nights that I used to attend). The one I'm selling here, right now to YOU is called PROPER TROG and OTHER NURSERY NONSENSE and it's a little rhyming thingy that I wrote for my son, when he was a baby. It's going to cost you £2.95 post paid, if you live in the UK or £3.95 for any place else. And here's the deal - You simply send the dosh to my publisher and he'll mail you the goods by return post. But wait, there's more... Like you I don't NEED the money, but I know somebody who does, so for each book we sell I will donate the full cover price of £2.95 GBP to my fave charity MANCHESTER ATAXIA and pay any extra postage that is necessary out of my own pocket. Right, how many copies DO YOU WANT? Oh yes, my Publisher is RAWPRINTZ MANCHESTER.. and you can e-mail him at: propertrog@aol.co.uk