Happy Thanksgiving!
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Acutezza
I just learned a new word today, courtesy of Changing Minds.org. It's 'acutezza' and it means the use of wit or wordplay. I think it just might be my new favorite word!
There's a whole lot of very cool figures of speech on that page, actually.
There's a whole lot of very cool figures of speech on that page, actually.
Like, f'r instance, 'Dogberryism' (which sounds very Dilbert-ish, doesn't it? It means the same thing as malapropism, which means replacing a word with one that sounds similar, but is generally just wrong!)
I also found 'aureation' (the use of fancy words) and 'glossolalia' (fabricated, meaningless speech) which are just wonderful, dontcha think?!
Well, that's it, except...to everyone, I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving!
(How's that for a bit of 'paraprosdokia' with regard to today's post???)
Monday, November 22, 2010
A Tight Little Tangled Bundle of Yarn
Okay - I admit it. I'm hooked.
Ovillejo!
As a poet of (primarily) light verse, this is one awesome poetic form because it really does lend itself mightily to the genre. And it's fun!
I first heard about it from Bruce Niedt who posted about it at Poetic Asides.
According to Tilt-A-Whirl, a terrific literary ezine (which has published work by both Bruce and Sara Gwen, another amazing poet who posts at Poetic Asides) the form was made popular by Rhina P. Espaillat.
Wikipedia says that the first known use of the form was by Cervantes.
According to a number of sources...
"The "ovillejo," an old Spanish verse form that means "tight little bundle." "-ejo" is one of our blessed diminutives, and "ovillo" means "tangled ball of yarn." The last line is a "redondilla," a "little round" that collects all three of the short lines. The rhyme scheme is established, but the meter is at the poet's discretion, although in Spanish the longer lines tend to be octosyllabic. ( octosyllabic: A line of verse containing eight syllables)"
Got that?
Meaning, in ten short lines, (the way I understand it), you have 6 syllables each for lines 1,3,5,7,8,9 and 10. Lines 2,4 and 6 each get 2 syllables. The rhyme scheme is:
a
a
b
b
c
c
c
d
d
c
Here's an example (based on what I've written for the Poetic Asides' prompt for today, which is all about taking a stand)
Santa
I believe in Santa!
Can’t a
grown-up (not precisely)
nicely
get a wish fulfilled by
the guy
whose nine reindeer can fly?
Please come down my chimney
for gingerbread and tea.
Dear Claus, I’m standing by!
(And of course, you know I do still believe in that jolly old dude in the red suit!)
Anyway, that's about it for today. Thanks for dropping by! See you soon.
Ovillejo!
As a poet of (primarily) light verse, this is one awesome poetic form because it really does lend itself mightily to the genre. And it's fun!
I first heard about it from Bruce Niedt who posted about it at Poetic Asides.
According to Tilt-A-Whirl, a terrific literary ezine (which has published work by both Bruce and Sara Gwen, another amazing poet who posts at Poetic Asides) the form was made popular by Rhina P. Espaillat.
Wikipedia says that the first known use of the form was by Cervantes.
According to a number of sources...
"The "ovillejo," an old Spanish verse form that means "tight little bundle." "-ejo" is one of our blessed diminutives, and "ovillo" means "tangled ball of yarn." The last line is a "redondilla," a "little round" that collects all three of the short lines. The rhyme scheme is established, but the meter is at the poet's discretion, although in Spanish the longer lines tend to be octosyllabic. ( octosyllabic: A line of verse containing eight syllables)"
Got that?
Meaning, in ten short lines, (the way I understand it), you have 6 syllables each for lines 1,3,5,7,8,9 and 10. Lines 2,4 and 6 each get 2 syllables. The rhyme scheme is:
a
a
b
b
c
c
c
d
d
c
Here's an example (based on what I've written for the Poetic Asides' prompt for today, which is all about taking a stand)
Santa
I believe in Santa!
Can’t a
grown-up (not precisely)
nicely
get a wish fulfilled by
the guy
whose nine reindeer can fly?
Please come down my chimney
for gingerbread and tea.
Dear Claus, I’m standing by!
(And of course, you know I do still believe in that jolly old dude in the red suit!)
Anyway, that's about it for today. Thanks for dropping by! See you soon.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
I'm Baaaack!
(Actually, I was never really away. Well, sort of.)
In any event, I think it's high time I started posted here again, and so here I am! Ta da!
Now then. (Is that an oxymoron?)
I have quite a bit of poetry recently penned which has been posted over at Poetic Asides, Robert Lee Brewer's awesome poetry site. There's a lot of great poets that post there, so it's definitely worth a looksee, especially as the Poem A Day (PAD) Chapbook Challenge is currently going on as we speak (so to speak.) If you're looking for poetry prompts, it ought to get the creative juices flowin'. I'm writing just about all my poems for this challenge in Villejo form, which is a lot of fun, since it lends itself quite well to (what else??!!) light verse!
More on the Villejo tomorrow.
In case you might be wondering, I'm not doing NaNoWriMo, although I think it's a superb project. Why am I not doing it? Because several years ago, I did do it and discovered something relevant about my prose writing: see, by the end of November, the idea is (with internal editor turned off) to write 50,000 words. By Day 17, I had written 65,000 words and realized that coming up with words wasn't my problem - but, editing them back down was!
Which is why I generally write in short-ish poetic form, and because I like wordplay, I write frequently in rhyme (although I'm hell on metrics at times.) It forces me to be concise - to say what I have to say with an economy of words.
Right.
But...if you're talkin' short fiction, that's another story. Micro fiction is really cool, fun to write and much harder to do really well than you might think. If you're looking for prompts for this, then you gotta check out Flashy Fiction. And yep - I am still the Monday Flashy Lady.
Okay...that's it for now.
In any event, I think it's high time I started posted here again, and so here I am! Ta da!
Now then. (Is that an oxymoron?)
I have quite a bit of poetry recently penned which has been posted over at Poetic Asides, Robert Lee Brewer's awesome poetry site. There's a lot of great poets that post there, so it's definitely worth a looksee, especially as the Poem A Day (PAD) Chapbook Challenge is currently going on as we speak (so to speak.) If you're looking for poetry prompts, it ought to get the creative juices flowin'. I'm writing just about all my poems for this challenge in Villejo form, which is a lot of fun, since it lends itself quite well to (what else??!!) light verse!
More on the Villejo tomorrow.
In case you might be wondering, I'm not doing NaNoWriMo, although I think it's a superb project. Why am I not doing it? Because several years ago, I did do it and discovered something relevant about my prose writing: see, by the end of November, the idea is (with internal editor turned off) to write 50,000 words. By Day 17, I had written 65,000 words and realized that coming up with words wasn't my problem - but, editing them back down was!
Which is why I generally write in short-ish poetic form, and because I like wordplay, I write frequently in rhyme (although I'm hell on metrics at times.) It forces me to be concise - to say what I have to say with an economy of words.
Right.
But...if you're talkin' short fiction, that's another story. Micro fiction is really cool, fun to write and much harder to do really well than you might think. If you're looking for prompts for this, then you gotta check out Flashy Fiction. And yep - I am still the Monday Flashy Lady.
Okay...that's it for now.
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