Gimme The Noonlight

A riff and a rap on Edith Sitwell’s ‘Façade’

Dame Edith Sitwell ..’ British Poet … 1887 – 1964

gimme the noon-light
gimme a twirl
I’ll come up trumps
my banner unfurl
that Edith was mad
yet made us all glad
with Beelzebub’s story
all hunky-dory
to consider her metre
ashes and saltpetre
anything dare
her nonsensical verse
both a boon and a curse
rapper extraordinaire
meaning averse
step-laddered verse
my first prolonged affair
to do and to dare
over our heads
but like newly weds
always a-bed
whim-led
vital yet dead
while known only to me
the waves of the sea
thrash
crash and smash
on the cusp of the shore
sea-elephant glum
mindless on rum
… but none of them come
forevermore dead
in Beelzebub’s bed

Many recorded versions of Edith Sitwell’s ‘Sir Beelzebub’ (‘Facade’) can be explored on YouTube.
The link below will take you to a version read by Anthony Burgess . . .

Willy-Nilly, or Why I Love the Alphabet

Willy-Nilly, or Why I Love the Alphabet

 

I love how A B C and Dee
Precede E F and Gee:
How H I J K, L and eM,
Lead on then to eN.

How O P Queue,
R S T You,
All Give way to Vee,
And then are followed,
Willy-nilly,
By W X and Y and Zee.

 

‘Willy-Nilly’ – Reduplication

[ Wednesday Replay # 4 ] 

[  First posted on January 23, 2017  ]

Definition of reduplication in English …

Reduplication in linguistics is a morphological process in which the root or stem of a word (or part of it) or even the whole word is repeated exactly or with a slight change.  (From: Wikipedia)

My word-play attempt (I’ve called it, quite arbitrarily, ‘Willy-Nilly’) at composing  a few Nonsense Verses to link together – however tenuously – a number of the very many examples of reduplication in the English language.

My latest knick-knack
Is a handy-dandy
Criss-cross
Walkie-talkie,
With Wi-Fi;
Better than snail-mail,
It creates a real hubbub
And gives me the harum-scarum
Heebie-jeebies;
But here goes, willy-nilly.

I’m an arty-farty
Culture vulture
I’m not hoity toity
Nor am I a toy-boy;
I love the pell-mell
Hurly-burly
And I don’t shilly-shally;
But I’m really so easy-peasy.
Okey-dokey?

So, let’s hob-nob
And chit-chat;
While the tick-tock
Turns topsy-turvy
And goes ding-dong
And ding-a-ling
We can talk clap-trap. 

Don’t be namby-pamby
Keep the bric-a-brac
Ship-shape
And we’ll have tip-top
Tittle-tattle;
No wishy-washy
Fiddle-faddle.

No ping-pong
No higgledy-piggledy
Ding-dongs,
No tom-toms
On the helter-skelter,
Just ship-shape
Pitter-patter
On the see-saw.

So Jeepers-creepers,
Let’s do the hokey-cokey,
The hip-hop
The hootchy-cootchy
and the boogie-woogie.

Let’s be goody-goody
And super-dooper;
Don’t dilly-dally
Let’s get lovey-dovey
And enjoy a little hanky-panky.

I’m not a nit-wit
Nor a bit ga-ga,
Well, maybe itsy-bitsy;
I do yada-yada
And  blah-blah,
But just a teeny-weeny bit.

Now cut the mumbo-jumbo
Get to the nitty-gritty.
When we pow-wow
With the fender-benders,
And have a happy-clappy
Sing-song
A razzmatazz
On the hurdy-gurdy
Wearing flip-flops;
What a mish-mash
And a hodge-podge,
But still mumbo-jumbo
And hocus-pocus.

I can Zig-zag
And razzle-dazzle
With the bee’s-knees
And in the hurly-burly
Cause double-trouble,
‘Cos I’m just an old fuddy-duddy.

So-so,
Night-night!
Bye-bye!
Ta-ta!
Must chop-chop!
I’m off to a chick-flick –
Called La-La Land,
To listen to more flim-flam.

 

 

‘The Tern’ by Spike Milligan

[  # 83 of My Favourite Short Poems  ]

 

The Tern

 

Said the mother Tern to her baby Tern

“Would you like a brother?”

Said the baby Tern to the mother Tern,

“Yes, one good Tern deserves another.”

 

By Spike Milligan

 

Reprinted from ‘The BIG BOOK of POEMS’, by Roger McGough and Gyles Brandreth and Friends, Published in 1999 by Andre Deutsch Classics

‘NESCIENCELESSNESS’

 [ Wednesday Replay # 3 ]

Definition of ‘nescience’:   lack of knowledge or awareness :  ignorance

 

 

REFLECTIONS ON A NEW WORD

(For what it’s worth:  A conceit I composed in far off days  . . . )

A WORD TO THE WISE
(AN EPISTEMOLOGICAL CONCEIT)

 

Nesciencelessness …
Is a fascinating word,

But, its meaninglessness
Makes it absurd

Nesciencelessness …
Should mean being wise,

But astutenesslessness
I would advise.

‘Nesciencelessness’ …
Can be tried on a friend,

But recklesslessness
Will win in the end.

Nesciencelessness …
Is hard to pronounce,

But its endlessnessness
Makes it worth every ounce.

(Originally blogged on 15th August 2016)

 

 

On Being Repetitious

 I know you’re suspicious,
My thoughts are capricious
And highly fictitious
Completely nutritious
Yet hardly seditious.

Life is so delicious;
But, of course I’m ambitious,
The time is propitious.
The signs are auspicious,
Highly adventitious.

And you know I’m judicious,
Not one to be officious,
Superstitious or vicious,
Malicious, pernicious,
Not ever lubricious,
Nor in the least avaricious.

OK, I’ll be surreptitious,
So you can remain suppositious

… Although , I am REPETITIOUS.

 

MIND GAMES

MIND GAMES

Enigmatic
Covert
Whimsical and wild
Such are the games I play
Whilst mentally beguiled

Hidden within poetry
In discursive verse
My clandestine love affairs
Short
intense
And terse

Give to me a reason
Why thus I can’t express
My mind’s adventurous spirit
My need to seek excess

To open up
Revealing all
Whilst midst the subterfuge
My ego seeks adrenaline
A haven
A refuge

Its all a nonsense
Words at play
Fending off my fears
Seeking to screen my inner hurt
Reality kept at bay

 

Ruthless Rhymes

In his book ‘Word Play‘ (Pub. Coronet Books, 2015) Gyles Brandreth talks about his love of short pithy rhymes which he calls ‘Potted Poetry’ or ‘Terse Verse’.  He particularly enjoys those which he calls ‘ruthless’ and which make a pungent point in just 4 lines.  One such which he quotes is:

‘I had written to Aunt Maud
Who was on a trip abroad
When I heard she’d died of cramp –
Just too late to save the stamp.’

He goes on to invite his readers to compose their own ‘ruthless rhymes’.  I doubt if the following could be considered as ruthless as his examples, but here are a few which I managed to create . . .

Winston Hawden Archibald Hughes
Revelled in a life of booze;
One night he downed a bottle of gin,
The landlord rang his next of kin.

---

I pressed the bell just for a lark,
‘Twas 8 o’clock and after dark.
A lady answered in her nightie,
But sadly she was over ninety.

---

I longed to kiss her slender neck,
To take a bite not just a peck,
But when I got the chance to do it,
My vampire teeth just weren’t up to it.

---

Well, tell me now what you would do
If your old man had said to you,
“I no longer want you for a wife” –
I’d stab him with my butter knife.

NOTES:

The original ‘Ruthless Rhymes’ were composed by Harry Graham and his book ‘RUTHLESS RHYMES FOR HEARTLESS PEOPLE’ was published in 1898.  It contains many short rhymes, all wickedly cruel and completely without morals.

Jocelyn Henry Clive ‘Harry’ Graham (1874–1936) was an English writer. He was a successful journalist who is now best remembered as a writer of verse full of black humour.  At the time of publication of this and several follow-up collections of verse written in a similar vein, Harry Graham was compared to W.S.Gilbert, Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear. It has also been suggested that his verse and prose, all exhibiting a delight in language, was an early influence on P. G. Wodehouse.  More information on Harry Graham can be found on the Ruthless Rhymes website and on Wikipedia

A Poetic Formula

 (Poem No.51 of my favourite short poems) 

A dozen, a gross and a score

Plus 3 times the square root of 4

Divided by 7

Plus 5 times 11

Is  9 squared

And not a bit more.

This ingeniously composed equation and the accompanying verse is quoted in Gyles Brandreth’s 2015 book ‘Word Play’ (Coronet Books – Hodder and Stoughton), as a composition by the playwright, Tom Stoppard. 

WILLY-NILLY Reduplication

Definition of reduplication in English …

Reduplication in linguistics is a morphological process in which the root or stem of a word (or part of it) or even the whole word is repeated exactly or with a slight change.  (From: Wikipedia)

My word-play attempt (I’ve called it, quite arbitrarily, ‘Willy-Nilly’) at composing  a few Nonsense Verses to link together – however tenuously – a number of the very many examples of reduplication in the English language.

My latest knick-knack
Is a handy-dandy
Criss-cross
Walkie-talkie,
With Wi-Fi;
Better than snail-mail,
It creates a real hubbub
And gives me the harum-scarum
Heebie-jeebies;
But here goes, willy-nilly.

I’m an arty-farty
Culture vulture
I’m not hoity toity
Nor am I a toy-boy;
I love the pell-mell
Hurly-burly
And I don’t shilly-shally;
But I’m really so easy-peasy.
Okey-dokey?

So, let’s hob-nob
And chit-chat;
While the tick-tock
Turns topsy-turvy
And goes ding-dong
And ding-a-ling
We can talk clap-trap.

Don’t be namby-pamby
Keep the bric-a-brac
Ship-shape
And we’ll have tip-top
Tittle-tattle;
No wishy-washy
Fiddle-faddle.

No ping-pong
No higgledy-piggledy
Ding-dongs,
No tom-toms
On the helter-skelter,
Just ship-shape
Pitter-patter
On the see-saw.

So Jeepers-creepers,
Let’s do the hokey-cokey,
The hip-hop
The hootchy-cootchy
and the boogie-woogie.

Let’s be goody-goody
And super-dooper;
Don’t dilly-dally
Let’s get lovey-dovey
And enjoy a little hanky-panky.

I’m not a nit-wit
Nor a bit ga-ga,
Well, maybe itsy-bitsy;
I do yada-yada
And  blah-blah,
But just a teeny-weeny bit.

Now cut the mumbo-jumbo
Get to the nitty-gritty.
When we pow-wow
With the fender-benders,
And have a happy-clappy
Sing-song
A razzmatazz
On the hurdy-gurdy
Wearing flip-flops;
What a mish-mash
And a hodge-podge,
But still mumbo-jumbo
And hocus-pocus.

I can Zig-zag
And razzle-dazzle
With the bee’s-knees
And in the hurly-burly
Cause double-trouble,
‘Cos I’m just an old fuddy-duddy.

So-so,
Night-night!
Bye-bye!
Ta-ta!
Must chop-chop!
I’m off to a chick-flick –
A romcom
Called La-La Land,
To listen to more flimflam.