'Taint Necessarily So

Three Word Wednesday (as the name implies) provides as a prompt, three words to be used together in one poem or prose piece each Wednesday.  This past week, the words were plausible, taint and willingly.  

Talk about a challenge.

Now, before I get to the poem and its backstory (yeah, yeah - I know - one of the trite, overused words I shouldn't be using, but whatever...) I want to mention something about today's graphic - I didn't create it.  (Can't take credit where it's not due, and all that, right?)

What I did do was plug the word 'taint' into Google's search field and then, after getting a results page, I clicked on Images, and this was one of the images I got.  Thank you to Fashionably Geek for the cool graphic.

Now then, on to the poem.  I decided that I wanted to do a Glosa for the prompt, which requires a quote or poem (or something from another source of inspiration) to be used as an epigraph for the starting point.  For that, I Googled (yep - I am using Google as a verb here...sorry) "quotes with the word 'taint' in it," and found something I kinda liked. 

So, without taint or any plausible further ado, I willingly give you the poem:

‘Taint Necessarily So

Texto:

“His money is twice tainted:
‘taint yours and ‘taint mine.” –Mark Twain

Glosa:

A pretty picture, this here fellow has painted,

‘bout some o’ the ready, on which I’m acquainted,

and I’d willingly pass up, because I’m so sainted.

His money is twice tainted.

But sainted or not, I just wish he’d assign

a percentage or two, as a plausible sign.

‘Tis a bit o’ good will that no man would malign.

[Ah, but…] ‘Taint yours and ‘taint mine.

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Cento Ascending

We Write Poems gave a prompt last week of writing a Cento - a mash-up poem made up of other people's work (with credit given, of course.)  Interestingly, We Write Poems' ground rules stated that the lines in our new poems had to come from works that were not from poetry, but they could take on whatever form we wished, provided we used complete sentences and used only one source per poem.

A few years ago, I actually started playing with this form, but done in a slightly different manner:  The Cento was to be written as a quatrain, with four separate lines from four different poems, with the accreditation to follow (underneath the poem) in subscript.

Like this one, for example:

At the Laundromat with Walt Whitman

Where are we going, Walt Whitman?  The doors close in an hour.
If you do not say any thing how can I say any thing?
Oh let there be nothing on earth but laundry
and below them the filthy sneakers, shifting, shifting.

Allen Ginsberg, A Supermarket in California; Walt Whitman, from Song of Myself, #49; Richard Wilbur, Love Calls Us to the Things of This World; Catherine Doty, Momentum

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In any event, here's a few attempts at the Cento, per the instructions from We Write Poems.

Drac’ku

It was a big bat.

What does it mean, Professor?

It is the Count.  But…

Dracula – Bram Stoker
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My Mom Makes Weird ‘K’ Noises

It didn’t sound kuplink!

He heard a noise from over a stump and thought,

“That is my mother walking along.”

…kuplink, kuplank, kuplunk….

Blueberries for Sal – Robert McCloskey
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Sevenling (At a Lonely Crossroads on the Edge of a Prairie)

But this ain’t the road to Canada,

this is the road to Pittsburgh

and Chicago.

Did this mean I should at last go on my pilgrimage

on foot

on the dark roads around America?

The greatest ride of my life was about to come up…

On the Road – Jack Kerouac

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Ring 'Round the Rosie

Magpie Tales provided the photograph prompt you see to the left, today.  Fascinating, isn't it?  When you look at it, what do you see?  Pulling?  Pushing?  Play?

To be honest, this sculpture can mean many different things, depending on your perspective - and I've already had the pleasure of reading a number of different interpretations. 

As a mom of tween twins, I caught, out of the corner of my memory's eye, a flashing glimpse of a game my kids and I played back when they were really small.  I decided to write to the prompt from that point of view, and thought it might be fun to try it as a Virelai, which, according to The Poets Garret, is a variation on the French form Lai.

Ring ‘Round the Rosie

Ring ‘round the Rosie.

Mom and kids, cozy.

All fall.

Circle and mosey

all for that poesy.

Down all.

When children are small

it’s good to enthrall

with dance.    

In kitchen or hall,

 (no difference at all) -

just prance.

We all did that dance.

It served to enhance…

...cozy.                          

Ah, childhood romance,

ah memory, enhance.

 ‘Rosie.’

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Also...An Award!

 
 
I am honored to be awarded The Perfect Poet Award
for Poets' Rally Week 36.  
Thank you, Jingle!  ☺

To read some of the awesome works from the other poets, please visit Promising Poets Parking Lot.

I would like to nominate Thinking With An Open Mouth.

Little Cat Feet

Monday is a very nice day for prompts, dontcha think? 
Why, you ask?  I'll tell you...

Big Tent posted theirs: FEET

and Monday's Child posted theirs:

So, I combined both prompts (albeit without any metric feet) - and with apologies to Carl Sandburg, here's my kitty ditty:

The New Year

The New Year comes

on little cat feet.

It doesn’t sit still looking

over anything,

but not-so-silently launches

and then moves on. 

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Now That's What I Call Progress (I'm just sayin'...)

Sunday Scribblings, a fun prompt site, provided the word 'Progress' today, as their poetic inspiration.

So, dear BFFs, first, let me give you some backstory on the subject of my poem du jour. See, I'd just read a sort of viral kind of article about how certain linguistic academicians and scholars each year make a list of failed words and phrases they believe should be banished from the English language due to their overuse and because they are epically trite.  You could, of course, Google the article, but since I'm all about making things easier for everyone, you can read it right here on this blog. The list for 2011 is:

viral, epic, fail, backstory, Aha moment, Wow factor, BFF, man up, refudiate, Mama Grizzlies, The American People (as used by members of congress to prove his or her Wow factor,) I'm just sayin', Facebook/Google (as a verb) and Your call is very important to us...

Having said all that, I've manned up and penned a triolet on that very topic.

Linguistic Progress

Some linguists want to ban the use

of words and phrases which are trite,

‘though some may find this quite abstruse.

Some linguists want to ban the use.

This 'proscribe' progress, I deduce

may force a bit of (hmmm?) rewrite?

Some linguists want to ban the use

of words and phrases which are trite.

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Happy New Year's Day!

Happy 2011 to Everyone!

Writer's Island, in keeping with the bright and cheery New Year's trend, gave the word 'Embark' as their first prompt for the year.  A good word, right?  Now, I'm not sure why a Double Dactyl came to mind for this particular poem, but there you are.

New Year’s Resolutions

Higgeldy Jiggeldy

Let’s all embark upon

great resolutions we

know we can’t keep

even ‘though we’ll try hard

characteristically,

‘cause we’ll eat too much and

then oversleep.

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