Inspired Poetry

[LLapp]

"The greatest poem is not that which is most skillfully constructed, but that in which there is the most poetry." — L. Schefer

reader4
August 17, 2011, 5:33 pm
"L. Schefer" is Leopold Schefer, but he did not say this. It is by Wilhelm Scherer. It is quoted and/or translated in Scribner's magazine, vol. 7, 1890.

kb83
July 8, 2014, 9:45 am
What does he mean?

dbarku2
March 8, 2015, 12:28 am
poems don't have to have rhythm or rhyme. it's the thought that counts

Fudi
July 20, 2018, 10:24 am
It's a better value if you get MORE! I want more poetry in my poetry!

badbob
March 19, 2019, 6:56 pm
da da da nantucket
da da da da bucket
da da da da venus
da da da da genius
ha fooled ya huh?

Chad Reagan
July 3, 2019, 5:25 pm
The greatest poem is not crafted in a war-room.
It is not experienced while eating a mushroom.
It needn't be sublime,
Or even take much time.
The best poem is that which has the most volume.

pickleball
July 21, 2019, 12:32 pm
you had me badbob

blueladyblue
September 8, 2019, 7:40 pm
These words by Schefer on crypto are seen
Which reader4 thinks is wrong and obscene
Now Scherer, take heed
'Cause your quote all can read
In Scribner's esteemed magazine.

Synonymous
May 16, 2020, 10:31 pm
^My kind of poem blueladyblue. Thank you.

writeon
June 21, 2020, 8:09 pm
A poorly cited quotation
Once upset the cryptogram nation.
Schefer didn't construct it,
Badbob said Nantucket,
And this poem begs for cremation.

pj48
July 16, 2022, 1:46 pm
Once when I lived in Nantucket,
I carried fish home in a bucket.
I said with a grin,
as I poured water in,
"If these fish die I'm going to chuck it."

kb83
November 4, 2022, 10:41 am
Sounds like a scientist's approach-- the "greatest" poem is the one with the most mass.

[hrossa]

Very Pope-ish!

[kb83]

My own previous posts sometimes surprise me. Kb83.

"Our passions are like convulsion fits, which, though they make us stronger for a time, leave us the weaker ever after. "
— Alexander Pope

kb83
May 24, 2016, 7:16 am
Not iambic pentameter, but osrt of.
kb83
December 15, 2020, 3:27 pm
Okay, let's try this: Our passions, like unto convulsion fits / That burn and rage until the fire quits/ Though they do make us stronger here anon/ Yet weaken us the more forever on. --kb83
LLapp
October 27, 2022, 3:57 am
OMG, you came up with that by your own self?

And I (kb83) just posted on Aug. 27, 2025:

LLapp, I could probably get a job turning things into iambic pentameter or limericks. (Not sure you can do both simultaneously.) Well, ..., maybe, ...

lines 1,2: iambic pentameter
lines 3,4: iambic trimeter
line 5: iambic pentameter

I love iambic pentametric verse.
To take a wordy thought and make it terse.
And then to steal a trick
From county Limerick.
"Pentamerick"-- Alas, what could be worse?

[kb83]

Thanks, Llapp, I think you're right. I take all your suggestions, and I might only change the final word to "a myss."

[LLapp]

Another crypto-inspired limerick of mine.

"If you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you."
— Friedrich Nietzsche

kb83
May 18, 2017, 2:50 am
I gazed into an abyss. I knew there was something amyss. Its gaze tried to reach me, as said Friedrich Nietzsche, but a mile is as good as amyss.

Since it is mine, I would now edit it as follows:

I gazed into an abyss.
I knew there was something amiss.
Its gaze tried to reach me,
(As said Friedrich Nietzsche,)
But a mile is as good as a miss.

I liked your original better! It's more playful and more fun.
That said, in the original, I want to change "a mile is" to "a mile's" for the rhythm.
Oh, and while I've got my pen out, I want to spell it as "a myle's as good as amyss."

Sorry, it's after 3 a.m.

[kb83]

Another crypto-inspired limerick of mine.

"If you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you."
— Friedrich Nietzsche

kb83
May 18, 2017, 2:50 am
I gazed into an abyss. I knew there was something amyss. Its gaze tried to reach me, as said Friedrich Nietzsche, but a mile is as good as amyss.

Since it is mine, I would now edit it as follows:

I gazed into an abyss.
I knew there was something amiss.
Its gaze tried to reach me,
(As said Friedrich Nietzsche,)
But a mile is as good as a miss.

[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.