Word-Play

A one-word poem – Boring

richinaword Other words on poetry Tags: , , 1 Comment

I was on duty trying to entertain my eleven-year-old granddaughter when she came back from school.

She knows I am interested in words and poetry. When I started to broach that subject the response was one word -Boring.

I said to her that words are important. The words that you use say something about you. And of course choosing the best word and placing it in the appropriate location is always the aim of the poet.

Well, the one-word response was Boring. And then as though she wanted to emphasis her response she repeated Boring several times. You could say she created a one-word poem.

I guess this eleven-year-old finds grandfather totally boring. Wendy Cape was in that boring state with nothing creative on her mind. So she used that emotive feeling to create a boring poem.

Being Boring
'May you live in interesting times.' Chinese curse
If you ask me 'What's new?', I have nothing to say
Except that the garden is growing.
I had a slight cold but it's better today.
I'm content with the way things are going.
Yes, he is the same as he usually is,
Still eating and sleeping and snoring.
I get on with my work. He gets on with his.
I know this is all very boring.
There was drama enough in my turbulent past:
Tears and passion - I've used up a tankful.
No news is good news, and long may it last.
If nothing much happens, I'm thankful.
A happier cabbage you never did see,
My vegetable spirits are soaring.
If you're after excitement, steer well clear of me.
I want to go on being boring.
I don't go to parties. Well, what are they for,
If you don't need to find a new lover?
You drink and you listen and drink a bit more
And you take the next day to recover.
Someone to stay home with was all my desire
And, now that I've found a safe mooring,
I've just one ambition in life: I aspire
To go on and on being boring.
Wendy Cope (1945 -

Wendy Cape is renowned for her humorous poems. She is happy to be a cabbage. An appropriate metaphor. A cabbage just responds to soil and temperature. It can be a little annoying when the same friend always starts the conversation – “What have you been doing”.

What can I say, I hope you are coping (forgive the pun) with all that is happening in the world.

Wendy Cope on Wikipedia

Playing with words – A Wislawa Szymborska poem

richinaword Other words on poetry Tags: , , , 2 Comments 
The Three Oddest Words

When I pronounce the word Future,
the first syllable already belongs to the past.

When I pronounce the word Silence,
I destroy it.

When I pronounce the word Nothing,
I make something no non-being can hold. 

Wisława Szymborska (1923 - 2012)
Translated by S. Baranczak & C. Cavanagh

Poets do like playing with words. And the choice of words is always a consideration. And so too the way they will present themselves when pronounced. An example is HIS, a wonderful word to be used when talking about a snake in a poem. So, if you are considering creating a poem about a snake make it masculine.

Looking at the three words in the above. Future is a two-syllable word. It is really a past/present word when split into syllables and pronounced. And so does that make all one-syllable words present, well until you release pronunciation of the syllable and then it fades into the past. Well, of course it is continually fading as the sound of the syllable dissipates. In the example of HIS, perhaps you should hold that sound when reading to make that snake a vicious one about to bite the listener.

Silence is not a word to have in a poem for it destroys the intent of what the poet is trying to create. Is it better to have a pause instead when reading the work? And how do you create a pause and hold a break when reading a poem?

Nothing is of course something for NOTHING is beyond comprehension.

So here is a sonnet which contains the word SILENCE … but I am asking the reader not to say the word SILENCE but to make a twenty second break. So that when it is read it is no longer a sonnet – so to speak (sorry about that!).

Wind and Sun

Wind and sun give us a choice,
shouting with their voice.
SILENCE
Drenching rain, din, din, din
soaked again to the skin.

And to add overwhelming proof
some are climbing on the roof. 

Some think of building a new arc
but cut down trees to make a start.

Our children know better though,
they're being taught the way to go.
Wind and sun give us a choice,
shouting with their voice.
SILENCE

Well, we are experiencing unprecedented flooding in Eastern Australian!

See my previous Post on The Joy of Writing by Wisława Szymborska.