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GabrielKeybordzLady Kestrel

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Inspire Me

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Total Posts: 334

Joined 2003-10-16

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I stopped writing poetry for a while, but now I’ve got back into it again. I’ve performed live poetry three times at a local venue. All new stuff each time and last night went particularly well.

In order to keep up the fresh flow of material, I’m looking for new suggestions for subjects. To give you an idea, here is last night’s set.
——————————————————————————————-
When telling someone I had written a poem about a “totalitarian government”, they thought I’d said “tagliatelle army”

Combat Cooks
Guns they shun, swords they won’t use
Bombs and fire are all eschewed
Such weapons banned, might think them calm
A group incapable of harm
But do not give them casus belli
The army of the tagliatelle
You’ll find that far from being nice
With uncooked pasta they will slice
Those rigid ribbons slash and maim
In skilled hands, instruments of pain
When cooked up, while their weapon’s wetter
Your chance of safety not much better
Their sticky whips will you entangle
They’ll trip you up, or even strangle
And you will come to rue the day
That you ever got in their way
So do not ever judge them barmy
The fearsome tagliatelle army

     

No Nonsense Nonsonnets 44

Quest for Knowledge

I’m hoping to find name for game that I played long ago
The people here so well-informed, someone is sure to know
A time machine, grandfather clock, I give it to myself
Oh never mind, the box is sitting there upon my shelf

For real retro gaming nerds, name that game.

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Total Posts: 334

Joined 2003-10-16

PM

The film Byzantium was largely filmed in Hastings. It was suggested that I write something gothic about vampires coming to the town. I took a slightly non-gothic tack.


Vampire Weekenders

When vampires go on holiday
They must be careful where they stay
The sun-kissed beaches of the Med
Are not a safe place for undead
For any vampire quite so rash
Will soon wind up a pile of ash
If they are going to have some fun
They need a place that gets no sun
One destination is quite clear
Which sees no sun this time of year
A period that has wide fame
Though many think of it as lame
And to us humans, quite a bummer
I mean, of course, the British summer
For Dracula, Whitby’s the place
He thinks of it as really ace
Nosferatu heads down to Devon
Which he considers close to heaven
Carmilla finds big coasters cool
That’s why she heads off to Blackpool
And now it seems this trend has brought
Some fanged fiends to our own resort
Clara and Eleanor come here
Though sad they cannot use the pier
They still find much that does appeal
Enjoy the night life with great zeal
The castle reminds them of home
Down in the caves they love to roam
Bright Neckbook updates daily brings
More of their friends here to Hastings
So if those tourists appear pale
All mirrors for them seem to fail
Best that you wear your collar high
Or else they might just drain you dry

     

No Nonsense Nonsonnets 44

Quest for Knowledge

I’m hoping to find name for game that I played long ago
The people here so well-informed, someone is sure to know
A time machine, grandfather clock, I give it to myself
Oh never mind, the box is sitting there upon my shelf

For real retro gaming nerds, name that game.

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Total Posts: 334

Joined 2003-10-16

PM

When I do favours for people, I sometimes say they can pay me by giving me poem ideas. One particular person I had done a favour for was struggling to come up with anything. Then they one day suddenly blurted out “ballroom dancing oak trees”. They didn’t really think I could do anything with that.

Strict Acorn Dancing
When a tree falls in the forest, does it make a sound?
What else do trees get up to when there is no-one around?
It seems our friends arboreal, whene’er they get the chance
Like naught more than to lift their roots, and have a little dance
The willow loves the ballet, the larch Is fond of tap
The beech it likes to body-pop to a bit of modern rap
The pine’s a fan of polka, the maple’s into jive
The cypress finds a galliard just makes It feel alive
But look for ballroom dancing, and one stands out from the rest
At this fine style of moving, it quite clearly is the best
Their bulk seems too much for such grace, but it is not a joke
That the masters of this dancing style are the most mighty oak
Their glides across the forest floor a wonder to behold
From the most tiny sapling up to the giants of old
If you put them on Strictly, then the prize they would just take
Their wooden moves much better than aught that humans can make
So if the woods seem churned up, the pathways torn up and rough
Those ballroom dancing oak trees have been out to strut their stuff

     

No Nonsense Nonsonnets 44

Quest for Knowledge

I’m hoping to find name for game that I played long ago
The people here so well-informed, someone is sure to know
A time machine, grandfather clock, I give it to myself
Oh never mind, the box is sitting there upon my shelf

For real retro gaming nerds, name that game.

Avatar

Total Posts: 334

Joined 2003-10-16

PM

That was my three. I asked if they wanted more. They said yes. On a train journey last weekend I saw a sign. It indicated both how to leave the station and where transport for further journeys could be found. But it didn’t say “Exit. Platforms over here”. It said “Way out trains”. I thought they sounded fun.

Way Out Trains
As vehicles go, it often seems that trains can be quite staid
They just roll on predictably on tracks most neatly laid
But there are locomotives that would blaze their own trails
That go a little crazy and head right off the rails
They leap up onto platforms, and rush out through the doors
To run around the city streets or out upon the moors
Freed of the paths they had to tread, they go a little wild
Exhibit the exuberance of a hyperactive child
Train guards do soon recapture them, put a stop to the fun
And set them back upon the routes they were supposed to run
Back to a life of timetables they simply would not choose
Their escapades are hushed up, you won’t see them on the news
But if you spot some carriages out on the country lanes
You’ll know now you’ve encountered, one of the way out trains

So, ideas anyone?

     

No Nonsense Nonsonnets 44

Quest for Knowledge

I’m hoping to find name for game that I played long ago
The people here so well-informed, someone is sure to know
A time machine, grandfather clock, I give it to myself
Oh never mind, the box is sitting there upon my shelf

For real retro gaming nerds, name that game.

Avatar

Total Posts: 191

Joined 2004-12-30

PM

Hmmm… All the rituals and prayers one goes through while trying to get a worn-out, crap car moving the morning might make for an interesting poem.  Things like setting the manual choke exactly 3/4s closed, mashing the accelerator down halfway exactly twice, praying it catches on the first try because the battery is bad and won’t support a second attempt if the first one fails, triple-clutching to get it to go into reverse gear, timing your departure from the driveway just right so that you’ll make the green light at the corner of the block where it is sure to stall if you have to stop before it has warmed up, feeling around in the floorboard for the pair of pliers that are used to roll down the driver’s window and to turn on the windshield wipers while keeping one’s eyes on the road, those sorts of things.

     

Warning- People won’t have as much of a sense of humor about you putting an Alka Seltzer in your mouth then staggering into a restaurant while shouting “THE VIRUS HAS MUTATED!” as you’d hope they would.

Consider this: People say “Ewwww!!!” when they hear about a guy having a hairy bum or hairy back, yet every Teddy Bear ever made has had both a hairy bum AND a hairy back and nobody complains about them; In fact, people think Teddy Bears are adorable.

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Total Posts: 5569

Joined 2008-01-09

PM

I love your poems, Step!  I’ve seen a “way out trains” sign on one of my trips to England, and it made me smile.  Now I know why.

How about file cabinet secrets, a depressed dungeon, or ink blots?

     

Carpe chocolate.

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Total Posts: 334

Joined 2003-10-16

PM

Some interesting suggestions there. Ta muchly.

     

No Nonsense Nonsonnets 44

Quest for Knowledge

I’m hoping to find name for game that I played long ago
The people here so well-informed, someone is sure to know
A time machine, grandfather clock, I give it to myself
Oh never mind, the box is sitting there upon my shelf

For real retro gaming nerds, name that game.

Total Posts: 1

Joined 2013-07-20

PM

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Total Posts: 334

Joined 2003-10-16

PM

Not forgotten the suggestions here. Having asked in several places I now have a handful of suggestions, one of which has inspired 8 poems all by itself. Rest assured I will come back to these ideas and post results here.

     

No Nonsense Nonsonnets 44

Quest for Knowledge

I’m hoping to find name for game that I played long ago
The people here so well-informed, someone is sure to know
A time machine, grandfather clock, I give it to myself
Oh never mind, the box is sitting there upon my shelf

For real retro gaming nerds, name that game.

Avatar

Total Posts: 5569

Joined 2008-01-09

PM

adlena - 20 July 2013 05:14 AM

nice post, i wish you may get some better suggestions

You never know what may inspire someone’s muse.  Maybe “better suggestions” will do it, or maybe not.

I look forward to whatever inspires you, Step.

     

Carpe chocolate.

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Total Posts: 334

Joined 2003-10-16

PM

I like all the suggestions so far. I have a minor problem in implementing Sage’s suggestion (I don’t actually drive) but with his thoughts on it and a bit of research, I definitely think it’s a goer.

Poems will be forthcoming on all. The timescale is just a bit flexible.

     

No Nonsense Nonsonnets 44

Quest for Knowledge

I’m hoping to find name for game that I played long ago
The people here so well-informed, someone is sure to know
A time machine, grandfather clock, I give it to myself
Oh never mind, the box is sitting there upon my shelf

For real retro gaming nerds, name that game.

Avatar

Total Posts: 191

Joined 2004-12-30

PM

stepurhan - 20 July 2013 01:54 PM

I like all the suggestions so far. I have a minor problem in implementing Sage’s suggestion (I don’t actually drive) but with his thoughts on it and a bit of research, I definitely think it’s a goer.

Mea culpa; I had no idea that you didn’t drive and thus were not intimately familiar with the love/hate, agony & ecstasy experience of owning a thoroughly worn-out car, an experience that many of us went through as teenagers with our first car that was rashly bought and haphazardly maintained on meager after-school, part-time job wages.  Of course, since I’m perpetually poor and consequently pathologically frugal, I never fully kicked the habit of buying cars with three tires in the junkyard and one tire on a banana peel as long as the price was right… the “right” price being under $500.  While cars of this nature do have their drawbacks, they also have a few benefits not found with more expensive cars:
1. You can afford to have more than one at a time, thus doubling the odds of functional personal transportation on any given morning.
2. Even if you have a string of bad ones that die beyond the point of resuscitation every other month for a year, you’re still spending less per year to buy six $500 cars than you would if you were making a new car payment.
3. You can park wherever you want to without fear of getting a scratch or ding.  With $500 cars, unless a window, light, or door handle gets broken in a parking lot you’re unlikely to even notice the difference.
4. You learn to be mechanically self-sufficient: Which tools and supplies are “must-haves” on every trip and which ones can be safely left at home, and more importantly how to fabricate the tool or part you need but don’t have using only common roadside detritus. 
5. When enough is enough and the car quits running for no apparent reason at an inopportune moment one time too often, you don’t feel the least bit bad about abandoning it where it stopped.  However, cars of this nature didn’t reach their advanced age and mileage by being stupid; They will only conk out unexpectedly if one or more of the following conditions are in force, thus ensuring that they get towed and repaired:
A. A full tank of gas,
B. One or more passengers who can not or will not walk the rest of the way to the destination,
C. A recent investment of more than 10% of the car’s purchase price such as a new battery or tires.

stepurhan - 20 July 2013 01:54 PM

Poems will be forthcoming on all. The timescale is just a bit flexible.

I look forward to them! Grin

     

Warning- People won’t have as much of a sense of humor about you putting an Alka Seltzer in your mouth then staggering into a restaurant while shouting “THE VIRUS HAS MUTATED!” as you’d hope they would.

Consider this: People say “Ewwww!!!” when they hear about a guy having a hairy bum or hairy back, yet every Teddy Bear ever made has had both a hairy bum AND a hairy back and nobody complains about them; In fact, people think Teddy Bears are adorable.

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Total Posts: 334

Joined 2003-10-16

PM

From Sage’s suggestion

Ignition Mission

If you should drive a clunker, then you will surely know
To get it started every day you must put on a show
For if you have a normal car, a key turn will suffice
But starting up a clunker isn’t that simple or nice
An optimistic key turn is the first thing that you try
To tease you it will seem to catch, then sputter out and die
You set the choke three quarters closed and bravely try again
But key turned slow or quickly all your efforts are in vain
So now you’re stamping pedals from on high down to the floor
It runs for a few seconds, then it stalls and turns no more
And now you’ve turned irrational, first pleading then a curse
Though all your imprecations make it no better or worse
At last you’re hitting everything to try to make it start
Air con, lights, radio, the lot while sinking is your heart
Then when your clunker feels that it has had its fill of fun
The engine stutters one more time, and then it starts to run
So now your car is going, off your mind this takes a load
But it’s not done, it dies just twenty meters down the road

     

No Nonsense Nonsonnets 44

Quest for Knowledge

I’m hoping to find name for game that I played long ago
The people here so well-informed, someone is sure to know
A time machine, grandfather clock, I give it to myself
Oh never mind, the box is sitting there upon my shelf

For real retro gaming nerds, name that game.

Avatar

Total Posts: 334

Joined 2003-10-16

PM

From one of Lady Kestrel’s suggestions

Not the Blot

The problem for ink blots you see
Is one of their identity
For Rorschach’s use in his great test
Stops them from knowing what is best
They thought they knew just what they were
But now they’re just not really sure
A cat, a goat, a butterfly
Some bacon, ice, a patch of sky
As patients more meanings have tossed
Their sense of self has become lost
Their thought processes start to border
On personality disorder
So if a shrink should seek to try
By this test in your mind to spy
Just say “ink blot” once and again
And you can help to make them sane

     

No Nonsense Nonsonnets 44

Quest for Knowledge

I’m hoping to find name for game that I played long ago
The people here so well-informed, someone is sure to know
A time machine, grandfather clock, I give it to myself
Oh never mind, the box is sitting there upon my shelf

For real retro gaming nerds, name that game.

Avatar

Total Posts: 5569

Joined 2008-01-09

PM

Poor insane ink blots and poor driver!  I love them, Step!  Thumbs Up  Thumbs Up

     

Carpe chocolate.

Avatar

Total Posts: 191

Joined 2004-12-30

PM

Bravo Stepurhan!  Excellent!  That ought to get more than a few laughs at poetry night!

     

Warning- People won’t have as much of a sense of humor about you putting an Alka Seltzer in your mouth then staggering into a restaurant while shouting “THE VIRUS HAS MUTATED!” as you’d hope they would.

Consider this: People say “Ewwww!!!” when they hear about a guy having a hairy bum or hairy back, yet every Teddy Bear ever made has had both a hairy bum AND a hairy back and nobody complains about them; In fact, people think Teddy Bears are adorable.

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