[Writingworkshop] Psychobabble and Name Dropping (+ Another poem...)

[Neale Morison]

Thank you for the poem, Jess. I have a team of crack investigators 
working on it as we speak. Being crack investigators, they read between 
the lines.
So far we have detected a timely health warning and hints of militant 
vegetarianism. We were distracted for a considerable time by the image 
of the bikini bopping Coke babes. We just watched them with our mouths 
open for a while, not trying to figure out what they meant. As with your 
previous poem, we suspect that the title is the clue to the whole thing. 
Snow? White vegetables - a veiled parsnips reference? We are attempting 
to track down the mystery interlocutor who may be able to help us with 
our enquiries.
I really like the tone of annoyance. The single word sentence: Thanks.  
is great.
Trichinosis. Eeww.

Jessica R Nesvold wrote:
> Sorry for the one month propagation delay in response here (class --> 
> complete
> lack of free time), but I just wanted to say that I've really been 
> enjoying the
> poetry a lot.  I also wanted to offer a couple of comments.
>
> You have a great sense of rhythm in all of these poems.  It's obvious 
> that you
> like to play with the language.  It's original and fun to read.  That 
> said, I
> think some of your work could benefit from being shorter... ?  I hope 
> that's
> not an awful thing to say, but sometimes it seems like it would pack a 
> bigger
> punch if it were more condensed.
>
> For example, to paraphrase the Paraphrasus:
>
>
> A rose is a rose is a rose not a phallus -
> Can all be condensed into a single word.
>
>
> Ok, this is a little extreme.  It cuts about 90%, but these are the 
> two lines I
> like best and they go together really well.  I tried messing around with
> putting some of the other lines in but I always come back to this 
> combination.
> It's neat because it's blunt and at the same time kind of mysterious.
>
> Anyway, here's one more (again... sorry for maiming it, you can ignore 
> this if
> you like; they really cool poems already).
>
> Mr A
>
> Don't take refuge in a bottle,
> Try the thoughts of Aristotle -
>
>  Politics within a city,
>  How to drum up fear and pity,
>  Tips on tragedies and farces,
>  Hints on how to reach katharsis,
>  (Like nirvana, only Greeker)
>  How to be a public speaker,
>  Physics, regular and meta,
>  What is good and what is better,
>  Want a book on self-improvement?
>  Mr A kicked off the movement -
>    How a man should live his life,
>    When a man should get a wife,
>    How a man should face desire,
>    When a man should play with fire.
>
> A man should be content to think -
> Damn it,
>   I will have that drink.
>
>
>  Hope everyone is having a good week.  I've also attached a recent 
> poem of my
> own and would be more then happy to get any comments/critiques you all 
> may have
> to offer.
>
> - Jess
>
>
>
>
> Quoting Neale Morison <neale at nealemorison.com>:
>
>>
>> Psycholingo
>>
>> You may speak of your shamans and mystics,
>> You can mention your lies and statistics,
>> That bullshit you'll bear with,
>> It doesn't compare with
>> The bollocks they talk in linguistics.
>>
>> There are dreamers and hopeless romantics,
>> There are manics, depressives and frantics,
>> Though their picture is hazy,
>> They're nowhere as crazy
>> As students of psychosemantics.
>>
>>
>>
>> Paraphrasus Interruptus
>>
>> 2008-02-10
>>
>> Marvell, circumspect in so many respects,
>> Wasn't coy when confronted with not enough sex,
>>
>> Lord Tennyson said it and so did Pavlova
>> 'Tis better than nothing to get your leg over,
>>
>> Shakespeare remarked, in the passion of youth,
>> Get it on, do it now, come on baby, forsooth.
>>
>> Keats, was it not, who would cry without cease,
>> For Homer's sake, Chapman, just bring us more Greece
>>
>> Beckett, for brevity, up it did sum,
>> With his da da da, da da da, da da da, bum
>>
>> A rose is a rose is a rose not a phallus,
>> When cockless, go Toklas, as Gert said to Alice
>>
>> Hemingway married for all he was worth,
>> And we know what he meant by the movement of earth,
>>
>> Cole Porter when thinking of birds and of bees,
>> Used to wish he'd done more while he still had his knees
>>
>> Said Charles, in addition to fightin' and foragin'
>> Species need this to arrive at an origin.
>>
>> Some say the Bible knows which way is north,
>> And provides clear instruction on how to go forth,
>>
>> The universe ages and grows ever limper,
>> But when it began it was not with a whimper,
>>
>> Agreement is general; wisdom, with luck,
>> Can all be condensed in a single word.
>>
>>
>>
>> 13/02/2008 08:56
>>
>> Mr A
>>
>> Prior to refuge in the bottle,
>> Try the thoughts of Aristotle,
>> Politics within a city,
>> How to drum up fear and pity,
>> Tips on tragedies and farces,
>> Hints on how to reach katharsis,
>> (Like nirvana, only Greeker)
>> How to be a public speaker,
>> Physics, regular and meta,
>> What is good and what is better,
>> Osophy and ology,
>> More than one apology,
>> Want a book on self-improvement?
>> Mr A kicked off the movement,
>> How a man should live his life,
>> Even when to get a wife,
>> Goals to which we should aspire,
>> How to overcome desire,
>> His failure to be feministic,
>> Makes some people go ballistic,
>> Others, in frenetic rages,
>> Blame him for the Middle Ages,
>> There was a long paralysis,
>> In awe of his analysis,
>> For Mr A a little think,
>> Was more amusing than a drink.
>>
>>
>>
>> 14/02/2008 12:56
>> Psychobabble
>>
>> Book Review
>>
>> A man who has only a hammer'll
>> Treat all as a nail, and a scammer'll
>> Fit all to his theory,
>> Untestable, eerie,
>> Unconscionable and bicameral.
>>
>>
>> -- 
>> Neale Morison
>> neale at nealemorison.com
>> http://www.nealemorison.com
>> 31 Maple Ave #2, Cambridge MA 02139
>> +1 617 460 9969
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Writingworkshop mailing list
>> Writingworkshop at nealemorison.org
>> http://nealemorison.org/mailman/listinfo/writingworkshop_nealemorison.org 
>>
>>
>
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