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

Thu Feb 28 10:27:04 EST 2008

Thanks for the analysis. :-) It's actually about this time an international
friend of mine and  I went out for hot pot.  I kept getting after her for
putting the cooked food on the plates that had had the raw meat on them 
and she
kept calling me 'white' because of it.

- Jess

Quoting Neale Morison <nmorison at MIT.EDU>:

> 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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