Inspired Poetry

[Eureka]

(A very cute poetic response to the quote!)

"It's double the giggles and double the grins, and double the trouble if you're blessed with twins." — Unattributed

Glyndia
June 14, 2019, 10:53 pm
Double the diapers and double the noise, Double the mischief, my grand-twins are boys.

[kb83]

I love the comments on this one, which inspired my new limerick. kb83

"Apothegms to thinking minds are the seeds from which spring vast fields of new thought, that may be further cultivated, beautified, and enlarged."
— James Ramsey

wvwoman
June 22, 2012, 5:31 pm
ok, i had to look up that word!!
fishbum
August 26, 2012, 6:48 pm
Well, tell us what it means.
Carrot
October 24, 2012, 3:19 pm
Had to look up that word too .... Apothegms (plural of ap-o-thegm) Noun: A concise saying or maxim; an aphorism. ap·o·thegm also ap·o·phthegm ( p -th m ). n. A terse, witty, instructive saying; a maxim. [Greek apophthegma, from apophthengesthai,] to speak plainly.
skoogie2
January 3, 2014, 4:00 am
Good! Saved me looking it up! Thanks, Carrot!
wvwoman
February 12, 2014, 11:25 pm
oh, come on--you're online--google it!
Allen
July 22, 2014, 1:19 pm
Yes, look it up yourself. And you solved it, so what's the prob?
LLapp
January 2, 2016, 2:18 pm
Funny how this quote really fails the apothegm test.
saipanwriter
January 16, 2016, 1:26 am
Llapp--love your comments.
Roxanne
April 6, 2018, 1:08 am
On quotes.net James Ramsey is "a provincial politician and business man from Alberta" born in 1864 who looks exactly like the minor-league centerfielder James Ramsey.
lertsek
June 14, 2018, 3:37 pm
My new favorite word. Apothegm, apothegm.
…

Wordigo
May 16, 2023, 6:37 pm
An alternative spelling is apophthegm. You will have to excrete a lot of phlegm to say it.
Wordigo
May 20, 2025, 5:08 pm
Cough, cough cough… darn it Wordigo,.. you should have kept it to yourself.

Young Louie, when judging an apothegm,
Said this (after clearing his yap of phlegm,)
"Whether wordy or terse,
Whether prose or in verse,
I never have use for a scrap o' them."

[Eureka]

A haiku version of the quote from our clever poet laureate.

"Children can write poetry and then, unless they're poets, they stop when reach puberty." — Dennis Potter

kb83
March 7, 2025, 2:19 pm
Kids write poetry
And then unless they're poets
Not since puberty

[hrossa]

I'm sorry, I just noticed that the date and player's name was left off, doh. I'm pretty sure it was kb83.

[hrossa]

This one is fun.

"The doorstep to the temple of wisdom is the knowledge of our own ignorance. " — Charles Haddon Spurgeon

A minister, Charles Haddon Spurgeon,
Could dissect a text like a surgeon,
Then tossed it and turned it, So everyone learned it,
As easy as cooking a sturgeon.

[kb83]

Montyb’s comment below reminded me of another limerick in my chest of limericks. So I added it into the comments for this crypto. I stopped the forum post at his comment.

"Riches: A dream in the night. Fame: A gull floating on water. "
— Proverb

Lurker
December 29, 2009, 1:31 am
Fame is a seagull?
maradnu
April 2, 2011, 5:34 pm
All right, gulls & buoys.
montyb
July 1, 2013, 6:51 pm
Jonathan Livingston Seagull.
…
Kb83:
Said Jonathan Livingston Seagull,
When they judged him against a bald eagle,
"Well we both catch our fish,
(And we relish the dish,)
But I'd like to think I am more regal."

[kb83]

Just did this one today. kb83

"Only those who attempt the absurd will achieve the impossible."
— M. C. Escher

cindidido
April 19, 2014, 3:11 pm
He certainly did.
LLapp
April 20, 2016, 5:05 pm
M.C. Escher said this about his tessellation drawings, which he called Regular Division of the Plane: "It remains an extremely absorbing activity, a real mania to which I have become addicted, and from which I sometimes find it hard to tear myself away." Sound familiar?
abra
August 23, 2016, 7:00 pm
He was maybe a little more productive with his mania, than I am with mine.
MamaB
September 8, 2016, 8:03 am
Oh, my. Tessellations, huh?

A man who could draw, Maurits Escher,
Refused to succumb to the pressure,
"They all take offense
if it doesn't make sense,
But I think my ideas are fresher."

[kb83]

Finishes with a little poem by DrCryptell.

"I've sawn over seventy women in half in my lifetime, and I'm learning the second half of the trick now."
— Raymond Smullyan

kb83
October 3, 2014, 3:41 am
But how many has he seen sawn?
LLapp
February 5, 2015, 10:25 am
From Wikipedia -- this guy is 95 years old! Raymond Merrill Smullyan (born May 25, 1919) is an American mathematician, concert pianist, logician, Taoist philosopher, and magician Born in Far Rockaway, New York, his first career was stage magic. He then earned a BSc from the University of Chicago in 1955 and his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1959. He is one of many logicians to have studied under Alonzo Church.
oddcouple
September 12, 2015, 6:52 am
Thanks Llapp.
gvbken7
December 5, 2016, 2:05 pm
but how many has he seen sawn on the seashore on Saturday?
kb83
January 31, 2018, 1:14 am
As you saw, so shall you rip.
Altoid701
April 24, 2020, 9:19 am
He has since passed away at the age of 97.
blueladyblue
August 29, 2020, 8:39 pm
Good thing the sawing was done perpendicular to the body. Otherwise the women would literally have half a mind to come back and haunt him.
jbb33054
November 7, 2021, 8:20 am
373
DrCryptell
December 5, 2023, 9:31 pm
I sawn some women, then sewn 'em back. To saw, then sew? It takes a knack.

[Synonymous]

Thanks KB I learned another Russian word today.

[kb83]

Again, a limerick from me, kb83.

"Reality is not protected or defended by laws, proclamations, ukases, cannons and armadas. Reality is that which is sprouting all the time out of death and disintegration. "
— Henry Miller

momof6
March 30, 2009, 5:38 pm
what in the world are ukases?
smoochie222
April 23, 2009, 1:34 pm
I looked up ukases and it says An authoritative order or decree; an edict ... mostly used by Czars... play and learn
ernests
March 2, 2010, 7:52 am
I tried uzases, ujases and uxases before hitting on the right one.
afulton
January 4, 2012, 7:09 pm
Now there's a quote to mess with your best time average. Yikes.
abra
January 5, 2012, 9:12 pm
UKASES was my second guess. I'm glad I'm not the only one who didn't recognize the word.
montyb
April 10, 2012, 4:59 pm
Shoot, there's not a day goes by that I don't use "ukases" a half dozen times in ordinary conversation. And if you buy that, have I got a bridge to sell you.
fredsevent
May 4, 2012, 7:38 pm
You're a ukase Henry Miller!

... (many, many other comments)

An emperor issued a ukase,
To handle each judicial new case,
"When folks disagree
Just listen to me,
My thoughts will determine the true case."

[LLapp]

Excellent pun and tongue twister from kb83.

"I think I'm worth over a hundred billion dollars, but that's just on a cellular level." — Charlie Sheen

kb83
March 25, 2015, 7:16 am
Sheen sells Sheen cells on the Sheen shore.

[kb83]

This quote of Charles Haddon Spurgeon reminded me of a limerick I posted to another one of his. I'm including the comments and then at the end, my limerick which was to a different one of his.

"None are more unjust in their judgments of others than those who have a high opinion of themselves. "
— Charles Haddon Spurgeon

montyb
May 14, 2015, 1:53 pm
You think so, Butterball?
oddcouple
May 20, 2015, 3:59 pm
Butterball?
LLapp
June 9, 2015, 12:43 pm
He was named after two different kinds of misspelled fish.
universalmom
January 15, 2016, 11:07 am
Hahaha hilarious comments
kb83
March 8, 2017, 11:42 am
Were his names mis-spelt?
Roxanne
April 5, 2017, 9:28 am
Looks a little porgy to me.
slow1
July 18, 2017, 8:45 am
How can any of us criticize without becoming that very judgmental person. Is there anyone who never judges?
badbob
August 20, 2017, 12:26 am
Buddha is always represented as a little fat guy but no vitriol from the resident intellectuals on this site ..save it for the Christians , much easier targets
LLapp
January 31, 2018, 7:08 pm
Vitriol? Where?
blueladyblue
August 11, 2019, 5:29 pm
It was either the Butterball or the misspelled fish that got to bob. So I'll go ahead and say it: Buddha is a misspelling of barracuda. Feel better?
MissKitty
December 14, 2019, 2:53 pm
Kilroy 150 Hi fish names don't surprise me. Isn't Jesus known to be the great fisherman.
NotTooOld
May 24, 2020, 9:01 pm
I always think this is a most wonderful portrait. I wonder who the artist is? I think I have tried to look it up. I wonder if I found the answer.

Young Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Was dining on a sturgeon
So rare it was
It snapped its jaws
And he required a surgeon.

[kb83]

"The last temptation is the greatest treason: To do the right deed for the wrong reason. "
— T.S. Eliot
CarpeLanam
August 5, 2013, 8:33 am
From "Murder in the Cathedral."
tgreen517
August 9, 2015, 5:50 am
Well, at least it rhymes.
LLapp
September 1, 2016, 9:38 am
But what rhymes with "cathedral"?
LLapp
November 15, 2016, 8:07 pm
I've got it -- tetrahedral!
Andy451
March 30, 2017, 12:47 am
Beagle, seagull, Beatle, triangle, wrangle, spangle, squirrel (almost!), catalogs made by Spiegel, people, steeple, purple, toe nail, feudal, and ephemeral. And if'n you want to kick it up a notch, try cooking with Emeril. Bam! For T. S. Eliot, believing in the British god out of personal despair and terror at the meaninglessness or absurdity of life might have been his last temptation and greatest treason. Don't do it, Eliot! Murder in the Cathedral isn't that good of a play. For every one person religion liberates, it enslaves a million. Believe in that!
vintage38
March 18, 2018, 4:01 am
28 seconds
Persephone59
March 24, 2018, 11:34 am
In the room the women come and go talking of Michelangelo.
Eureka
December 12, 2018, 4:59 am
How often this is true.
zengard
August 31, 2020, 12:29 pm
My Crypto story: When I get 20, everyone else gets 10.
kb83
March 8, 2022, 4:39 pm
A poetical man T. S. Eliot, / Of men, limned the brawn and the belly fat. / And deaths in cathedral, / And plots polyhedral, / And the mystical magical jellicat.
xenia
October 4, 2023, 5:37 pm
I , for one, have always like this line from TS Eliot. It seems true to me
LLapp
January 23, 2024, 10:27 pm
Thanks to Andy451 and kb83 for accepting my challenge!

[hrossa]

Wow, those are good! Two by darkyr, I hadn't seen poetry from him before. Nice!

[LLapp]

Four poems, all theme-based, all in one thread! These are so good that I guessed at line breaks; my apologies if any line break doesn't match the author's intent.

"There is something about a bureaucrat that does not like a poem." — Gore Vidal

Roxanne
January 1, 2017, 2:16 am

blank spreadsheet flutters
in hot wind from angry boss
quarterly closing

darkyr
November 3, 2017, 4:11 am

See the trend,
lurching and reeling
across the graph,
like a fiery line
highlighting
your misfortunes.

blueladyblue
April 23, 2018, 11:10 am

Setting forth the righteous
pencil-gripping billers,
pleased and joyous, lo,
born to be form fillers.

munchlet
November 7, 2018, 6:55 am
Nice spin on Robert Frost's poem.

darkyr
October 3, 2022, 3:20 pm

Oh, political activist,
railing, fist clenched
Do you not see you are
the orchestra of the play?
Sometimes wailing,
sometimes silent
Yet the actors continue
on their way.