Inspired Poetry

[hrossa]

kb83, nice ones

[Eureka]

(kb83 giving Unattributed a little help.)

"Use your head and your heart; it's not everything, but it's a start." — Unattributed


kb83
April 16, 2018, 4:53 am
Use your noggin and your heart. It's not all but it's a start.

[kb83]

"Men must be taught as if you taught them not, and things unknown proposed as things forgot."
— Alexander Pope

dovid1946
January 17, 2015, 2:20 pm
Essay on Man- written in heroic couplets- two lines of rhymed iambic pentameter
tgreen517
March 4, 2015, 8:24 pm
i think i set the record for the longest time on this one- but i got 10 points!
kb83
February 4, 2017, 2:40 pm
Thanks, dovid1946
writeon
November 20, 2017, 3:01 pm
All those poems in two lines of rhymed iambic pentameter is indeed heroic.
Newbe Here
November 26, 2020, 7:21 pm
Well, my pentameter is neither heroic, Nor is it poetic or even iambic
hrossa
May 24, 2021, 8:04 pm
When Pope with striding verse is overwrought, Men, by gad, are taught they know not what!
pickleball
November 12, 2021, 12:05 pm
who's doing the teaching?
MadDoctor
November 14, 2021, 2:18 pm
Children can be taught, but adults KNOW what it RIGHT whether they are correct or not. It takes sly influence to change their thinking. No, this does not apply to everyone. There are many thinking people about, but far more who don't.
kb83
September 30, 2023, 10:22 pm
nice, hrossa ! May I suggest starting your second sentence with "Then men, ..." ?
RustySkipper
October 15, 2023, 9:19 pm
Amoebic perimeter

And today I commented:
Kb83 (3/13/25): I love this Pope couplet, and I also like hrossa's iambic pentameter, (or is it amoebic perimeter) response! So (with my suggestion):
When Pope with striding verse is overwrought,
Then men, by god, are taught they know not what!

[kb83]

Here is another thread, with 2 limericks of mine, one for each pronunciation of the author's name. I also supplied the commentary on each of the limericks. I added line breaks
Kb83

"We are not separate from spirit, we are in it."
— Plotinus

universalmom
March 11, 2016, 7:39 am
Wow, low success rate but fast record!
Bethmarywhite
March 22, 2017, 6:32 am
Who the he$$ is this guy? You google him and they constantly want to move your query to someone else!
tgreen517
July 26, 2017, 3:40 pm
He is in it.
GNDN
July 30, 2019, 8:09 am
Only if you drink too much of it...
tclcac
June 29, 2020, 5:07 am
Bethmarywhite ; (link)
kb83
October 29, 2021, 2:16 pm
For ancient philosopher Plotinus, / Materialism was rottenness. / "We strive after things / and all that that brings, / But in the end what has it gotten us?"
kb83
October 30, 2022, 2:40 pm
Hey, good one, kb83!
kb83
May 7, 2025, 5:38 pm
But, unfortunately, "Plotinus" has a long "o". So here goes again:
For Plotinus (Neoplatonic,) / His obsession with spirit was chronic, / He shunned the material, / To seek the ethereal, / With elan nothing short of demonic.
kb83
September 17, 2025, 4:32 pm
Give it a rest, kb83.

[BLU3]

I really like these poems, kb83. You should make a website and post them on it!

[kb83]

Just encountered this one of mine again. The thread was fun, so I included it. I added line breaks on my limerick. Kb83

"Releasing the pressure, it's good for the teapot and the water. Try it sometime."
— Jeb Dickerson
bansaisequoia
March 31, 2012, 6:04 pm
GO SUCK AN EGG, YOU DUMB MOTIVATIONAL BLOGGER!!! (Sorry, just releasing the pressure.)
montyb
May 20, 2012, 12:27 am
Was that good for you, bansai?
fishbum
June 10, 2012, 6:24 pm
What's a blog?
bvwRedux
July 14, 2012, 11:10 am
Stupid without careful instruction on HOW.
geeko321
February 10, 2014, 8:14 am
What about a pressure cooker? Releasing the pressure is bad, because it lowers the boiling temperature and makes your food take longer to cook! I guess though you gotta release the pressure when it's finished...
echo
June 30, 2014, 11:21 am
The "teapot theory" exists in Traditional Chinese Medicine. It has to do with the relationship between the lungs and large intestine. I know y'all were dying to know that! :-)
darkyr
June 22, 2017, 4:54 am
I think I got scalded by Bansai's comment. That will teach me to stand to close to the monitor when I'm done solving a quote.
susanith
February 4, 2018, 8:14 am
I also have a problem with a lot of motivational speakers, writers, bloggers, etc. But there is truth in this quote.
Earthwalker
May 5, 2018, 3:12 am
Like my buddy used to say about motivational quotes, "That almost means something."
No2son
July 22, 2019, 6:44 pm
The only motivation I get is to ignore motivational bloggers.
TimmyTee
February 7, 2021, 10:56 pm
Isn't motivational speaking a lot like "mansplaining?"
imsoeasy
April 9, 2021, 9:13 pm
I've never had a teapot although I've had tea or pot whatever you call it.
Cys Bacon
January 21, 2023, 12:45 pm
Nonsense. Releasing the pressure, say, by thrashing an offending inanimate object, ultimately raises not only my blood pressure, but that of my wife.
Ian123
June 19, 2023, 5:00 am
I'm a teapot.
hrossa
September 3, 2023, 1:25 am
Here is my handle; here is my spout. I wanted to hear more of what echo was talking about!
kb83
September 4, 2023, 6:37 pm
An unctuous blogger named Dickerson, / Exhibitionist he, with his knickers on. / Though they begged him to cease, / He said, "Let's increase, / My light of hypocrisy flickers on."

[kb83]

This is one I was inspired to write today. (But I would change the last line-- Kb83)

"To eat is to appropriate by destruction. "
— Jean-Paul Sartre

A philosopher named Jean-Paul Sartre,
Took the act of ingestion apart,
"All alimentation is
Appropriation,
So choose whether or not to take part."

(Better last line-- So choose whether you will take part.")

[kb83]

Found this one today from a few years ago. I think I must get a cheap thrill from turning something that Pope wrote into iambic pentameter. I added line breaks

"A man should never be ashamed to own he has been wrong, which is but saying that he is wiser today than he was yesterday."
— Alexander Pope

kb83
February 21, 2022, 10:35 pm
I will try to pope-ify it:

A man should never be ashamed to own
He has been wrong, for thereby he has shown
Himself a learner who can say today,
That he is wiser now than yesterday.

[kb83]

I had written this limerick for this specific quote (I thought) of Herodotus, but didn't see it there when I got the quote again, so I added it, and here it is. KB83

"This is the bitterest pain among men, to have much knowledge but no power."
— Herodotus

An historian known as Herodotus
Knew quite well what circumstance gnawed at us,
Great knowledge is ours,
But we have no powers,
The cosmos seems to have defrauded us.

[Eureka]

"You have to accept the fact that part of the sizzle of sex comes from the danger of sex. You can be overpowered. " — Camille Paglia

kb83
September 25, 2025, 6:37 pm
Ms. Paglia went out with Howard,
And wanted to be overpowered,
She thought that he sizzled,
But in romance he fizzled,
Leaving her evening soured.

[hrossa]

kb83, this one is awesome!

[Eureka]

"Gaiety is the most outstanding feature of the Soviet Union." — Joseph Stalin

kb83
August 12, 2022, 12:29 pm
In the Soviet Union no deity
Graced homes of the clergy or laity
But thanks to Joe Stalin And KGB callin',
The people were rockin' with gaiety.

[LLapp]

"Poets were intended to live to the full the life of the senses." — Gore Vidal

rasbury
July 7, 2024, 8:58 pm
Your written words should flow, it
Should rhyme, and mind your tenses;
Then you are a poet:
Live a full life of the senses.

That doesn't mean ignore
The heart, the soul, or the spirit.
Just act like good old Gore:
Taste it, smell it, touch it, see it, and hear it.

[kb83]

I often find myself in the position of defending Alexander Pope, which is not always a comfortable place to be. This quote of his, iambic pentameter, and as usual, got some complaints about the syntax, and I responded with another pair of iambic pentameter couplets (I added the line breaks):

"In words, as fashions, the same rule will hold, alike fantastic if too new or old. Be not the first by whom the new are tried, nor yet the last to lay the old aside."
— Alexander Pope

kb83
September 28, 2021, 5:24 pm

To criticize a cryptoquote, take care
Of its own time and place to be aware.
The syntax may annoy your modern ears,
But let your mind reflect on what it hears.

[LLapp]

Thanks, LLapp! In reading it, I think I would change line 2 to "was, in spite of himself, quite annoyed, ". ( I can't seem to keep myself from trying to perfect the meter.)

That's perfect! I could feel the small trip in the rhythm but posted it anyway. Glad I did.