Hippos

[Red-Headed]

Is there shame in fame;
do I mean should you wallow
like a fat hippo?

Up to your armpits
in thick glutinosity
slapping yourself on

the back like hippo's
actually don't! At least
I suppose they don't.

I don't really see
hippopotamuses at
all where I now live.

Hippopotami
you say in shocked disbelief;
and I say “Fowlers

Modern English - read
it & weep” you know-it-all!
I can pluralise.

However I can't
speak for large river-horses
& their relatives.

As far as I know
none matriculated from
my Alma Mater.

Bollocks! I hear you
say with some indignation.
You can't name any.

[Delta40]

This was a fun read albeit it felt fragmentary at times. I don't know why but it reminded me of this rhyme by Laura E Richards

Eletelephony

Once there was an elephant,
Who tried to use the telephant –
No! no! I mean an elephone
Who tried to use the telephone –
(Dear me! I am not certain quite
That even now I’ve got it right.)

Howe’er it was, he got his trunk
Entangled in the telephunk;
The more he tried to get it free,
The louder buzzed the telephee –
(I fear I’d better drop the song
Of elephop and telephong!)

[Red-Headed]

This was a fun read albeit it felt fragmentary at times. I don't know why but it reminded me of this rhyme by Laura E Richards

Eletelephony

Once there was an elephant,
Who tried to use the telephant –
No! no! I mean an elephone
Who tried to use the telephone –
(Dear me! I am not certain quite
That even now I’ve got it right.)

Howe’er it was, he got his trunk
Entangled in the telephunk;
The more he tried to get it free,
The louder buzzed the telephee –
(I fear I’d better drop the song
Of elephop and telephong!)

Yeah, that's very funnyphant!

[hillwalker]

I’m still struggling to

find a reason why you keep

breaking ev'rything


down into haiku

shapes even when it’s prose like

your current posting



H

[Red-Headed]

It is just a form
I particularly like
and it often works.

You say it's just prose
yet it's poetry to me -
it just does not rhyme.

Maybe my use of
enjambment is confusing
you a little bit?

[hillwalker]

Maybe my use of
enjambment is confusing
you a little bit?


Not a little bit - a lot. Your choices of line break are quite bizarre.

I challenge you to reformat the entire 'poem' into a single paragraph and still tell us that it's not prose.

You have an in-depth knowledge of poetic form and its history (haiku in particular) - that's not in doubt judging by your previous postings - but I seriously suggest you read more poetry to get a feel for the difference between poetry and prose. It's not just about form or rhyme - it's also about use of language and certain rhetorical devices that often make the two quite distinct.


H

[Red-Headed]

Not a little bit - a lot. Your choices of line break are quite bizarre.

I challenge you to reformat the entire 'poem' into a single paragraph and still tell us that it's not prose.

It's essentially a comic piece, I gave it a narrative through-line, but there is a lot of poetry that has done that in the past.


You have an in-depth knowledge of poetic form and its history (haiku in particular) - that's not in doubt judging by your previous postings -

That's what you get when you graduate from a couple of universities I reckon.


but I seriously suggest you read more poetry to get a feel for the difference between poetry and prose.

I've studied poetry for quite a few years, everything from Caedmon’s Hymn:

Caedmon’s Hymn (657 A.D.)

Nu scolon herigean heofonrices Weard
Meotodes meahte and his modgethanc
Weorc Wuldor-Faedor swa he wundra gehwaes
ece Drihten, or onstealde
He aerest sceop ielda bearnum
Heofen to hrofe halig Scyppend
ece Drihten aefter teode
firum foldan Frea aelmithig

possibly the oldest poem in 'English' through 'The Dream of the Rood', the dactylic hexameter of Beowulf, Richard Rolle of Hampole, 'Gawain', Langland, Chaucer, John Lydgate, Spenser, Marlowe, Shakespeare, Campion, Milton etc right through to the Metaphysicals, the Imagists, the Pylon poets of the fifties & the Beat poets right up to the present day. I own (& have read) several hundred books of & or about poetry. I have even met some contemporary poets. I think I've read enough poetry to know that the difference between prose & poetry is far less than you think.



It's not just about form or rhyme - it's also about use of language and certain rhetorical devices that often make the two quite distinct.

So where exactly are the differences? Everything from bathos, conceits, didactics, euphony, hyperbole, parody, simile & metaphor can belong to each.

I think to make a statement that the two forms 'are quite distinct' could be a thread in itself.

[hillwalker]

Studying poetry in depth and writing it well are also two quite distinct activities - given your wide knowledge of the art and its history I'm even more baffled that you consider this 'comic' piece a poem.

We shall have to agree to differ... my personal opinion will no doubt be refuted by many others on here.

H

[Red-Headed]

Studying poetry in depth and writing it well are also two quite distinct activities - given your wide knowledge of the art and its history I'm even more baffled that you consider this 'comic' piece a poem.

We shall have to agree to differ... my personal opinion will no doubt be refuted by many others on here.

H

Well, I suggest you study some of the American projectivist Black Mountain Poets (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_mountain_poets) & in particular the English poet Roy Fisher (another Midlander) who worked with them. Especially his 'City'.

Roy Fisher - Wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Fisher)

Roy Fisher - Archive (http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoet.do?poetId=1519)

Read & Learn ...