in misty mountains, lichen & moss carpeted, two mushrooms stand tall.
Mountain Life [Haiku]
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Monthly Archives: May 2023
Language Liquidity [Free Verse]
language is liquid;
meaning meanders.
in the long-run,
meanings are meaningless,
untethered and adrift
in an ocean of possibility.
[political words' meanings
don't drift, but tumble with
whiplash violence through
a desert of the possible.
But, predictably, the first variation
of a political word is the exact
opposite of its original meaning.]
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Reciprocal Gods [Free Verse]
Be my god
and I'll be yours,
and we can make
each other miracles.
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DAILY PHOTO: Scenes from Tshoka
We Are Makers [Free Verse]
Are we Makers?
Yes. We are!
And damn good ones at that.
We can turn a planet
into plastic trinkets.
We can use every last morsel
to make stuff:
bright & shiny
or
loud & colorful.
We can even make ideas:
good or bad,
true or false,
but always 100% believable.
We're the ones who invented Evil.
Yes, that whole toxic notion
is brought to you by us.
And Left-Wing & Right-Wing...
It used to be just a bunch of people
trying their best to understand
and to get by.
But we built mental / conceptual corrals,
corrals good enough that we
could no longer recognize each other
as part of the same species.
We are Makers.
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BOOKS: Echo & Critique by Florian Gargaillo
Echo and Critique: Poetry and the Clichés of Public Speech by Florian GargailloMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Amazon.in Page
Out Now (May 10, 2023)
This book examines seven poets’ attempts to halt the proliferation of clichés, euphemisms, doublespeak, etc., words and phrases that not only corrupt the language but are often used to disguise bad behavior or to camouflage dismaying truths. It focuses on a technique, echo and critique, in which the poet employs one or more of these disconcerting words or phrases (or clever variants of them,) but does so in a way that reveals the chicanery within them.
The poets whose work is discussed are: Auden, Randall Jarrell, Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, Robert Lowell, Josephine Miles, and Seamus Heaney. These poets go head-to-head with cliché and doublespeak in the form of bureaucratese, propaganda, political speak, and business talk — with particular emphasis on war, race, and politics.
The book makes some interesting points. There are more readable discussions of the subject of corruption and manipulation of the English language, though none that I’m aware of on this particular approach to combating it. This volume is largely aimed at scholars, and not so much the popular readers. That said, I found it well worth reading.
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Jewelwing [Haiku]
on a maple leaf, a jewelwing stands - still. it'd blend, if not so blue.
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A Dog Day Ends [Haiku]
a dog day ends, pine needles silhouetted against orange sky.
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DAILY PHOTO: Blue Skies Over South Siquijor
Autumn Shore [Haiku]
cool blue skies, & dry grass on the hillside -- seashore in Autumn
Tiger Riding for Beginners 