Inspired Poetry

[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.

[kb83]

"Poetry is a way of taking life by the throat. "
— Robert Frost

universalmom
September 26, 2012, 11:20 am
Wow! That must be some violent poetry
WRQ9
November 17, 2012, 10:30 pm
Subtlety has it's very own adventurous side, with pitfalls and treachery, for those who are opened to it.
Andy451
May 22, 2016, 5:29 am
Frost figured out a lot of stuff alone in the dark, on especially cold nights, particularly. Read the great essay on him by Joseph Brodsky called On Grief and Reason. If every person in the world took a month off to read his poetry, and discuss, and write about it, the world would be a better place. And who couldn't stand being better acquainted with the night?
skeeter
December 22, 2017, 10:37 am
I grabbed a stanza by the throat / and killed it in its prime. / The cops arrested me, and now / I'm doing rhyme crime time.
munchlet
January 14, 2018, 10:45 am
Clever verse, skeeter. Thanks for the recommendation Andy.
LLapp
February 10, 2018, 3:51 pm
Skeeter, sounds like something from Law and Order: IPU (Iambic Pentameter Unit)
vintage38
May 13, 2018, 3:39 am
28 seconds
Queethebean
May 29, 2019, 5:18 pm
What are you in for, buddy? Armed robbery, and you? Poetry.
pickleball
December 30, 2020, 1:54 pm
easy, bobby !! Andy451 ,can't afford to take month off, you know ,bills, food,gas etc.. ps, i'm very acquainted with the night, years ago anyway stay safe all and happy new year!!
jbb33054
May 18, 2021, 5:08 pm
46
kb83
June 30, 2021, 11:45 am
LLapp, wonderful idea! If I may, though: "Common metre or common measure—abbreviated as C. M. or CM—is a poetic metre consisting of four lines that alternate between iambic tetrameter (four metrical feet per line) and iambic trimeter (three metrical feet per line), with each foot consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable." Skeeter's (wonderful) poem is da Dah da Dah da Dah da Dah da Dah da Dah da Dah. (repeat) So this would be Law and Order CMU.
abra
July 18, 2022, 7:31 pm
Poetry fight! Poetry fight! Oh, skeeter, what have you wrought. (Yes, I know it's not a real fight and LLapp will be delighted with the discussion. )

[Eureka]

"Poetry is the lifeblood of rebellion, revolution, and the raising of consciousness." — Alice Walker

pickleball
December 22, 2020, 11:13 am
i'm no poet, and believe me i know it!!

[kb83]

A cryptogrammer's garden of verse?

[skeeter]

Thanks, hrossa. Yes, I'm a painter. Watercolors. Thanks for remembering.

[kb83]

Just saw a cryptoquote by John Barrymore, and it is not the quote that inspired my limerick (below), but I don't know if I will ever see the one that did inspire it again. It was a quote in which Barrymore referred to a girl (woman) as looking like a "haddock" when the lighting was better.

Anyway, I saved the limerick (obviously):

There was a great actor named Barrymore,
In love he was not one to tarry more,
“This girl is a haddock
So back to the paddock,
My attention I shall give nary more.”

[hrossa]

I think I remember seeing that one of our members is an artist, maybe Skeeter?