Sunday 21 November 2010

Poem for the Poetry Bus

This week it's Chris (Enchanted Oak) driving and the ask is:
Write a poem that addresses your existence, or some part of it, on this earth.

Tickets here

Mine is a kenning

I am ...

a rakish parker
a creative sparker

a button sewer
a lawn mower

a multi-tasker
a question asker

arachnaphobic
a published poet

a boa flaunter
a facebook haunter

a regular blogger
a bandwidth hogger

a sloppy dresser
a happy nonethelesser

Here's more on kennings if you're interested.

Redone with alliteration  inspired by Titus

I am ...

a perverse parker
a scheme sparker

a seam sewer
a retired rower

a multi-tasker
an anecdote asker

arachnaphobic
a published poet

a frippery flaunter
a happiness haunter

a bonny blogger
a headline hogger

a dishevelled dresser
a numpty nonethelesser

17 comments:

Niamh B said...

interesting - did you mean blogger or bogger though? wouldn't really have thought of you in the latter light!
A cunning kenning

Louise said...

Bet that list could go on forever! What we do and what is expected of us can be exhausting for sure. Great poem, cheered me up and made me smile. Well done.

Enchanted Oak said...

A Kenning! What a pleasure! And I adore that last "happy nonethelesser"!

Emerging Writer said...

Feck it, eagle eyed Niamh spotted my typo. Thanks

And I am not a bogger, not at all (gets on high horse and wades through the swamp into the middle distance)

Titus said...

Ooh, ooh, that's so interesting for so many reasons. Poem itself great, though I think I'd have stuck with bogger even though you lose a bit of sense in what follows. Irish connection so very strong though, with the original.
And loved the thought of a rakish parker.

Secondly, kennings are major feature of Anglo-Saxon verse (bit of a speciality, as you may recall). Because it was an alliterative meter, compound words were invaluable to get the right start letter, so they had nouns which were noun-noun, adjective-noun and adverb-noun, and adjectives which were noun-adjective, adjective-adjective, adverb-adjective and adjective-noun.
Engla-lond is itself a compound word (land of the Angles).

But it was pure poetry on the part of the scop (poet) that turned the compound word into the kenning; it is much more sophisticated - a kind of condensed metaphor. Can't type in Anglo-Saxon, but here in modern English:

The sea is the whale-way
A ship is a wave-horse
A minstrel is a laughter-smith.

I award you hleator-smith of the day. Which admittedly is a masculine word, but goes well with the boa (feather-neck).

I'm getting boring now. Best be off.

Emerging Writer said...

Forgot you are the Anglo-Saxon expert in our midst.

Should kennings be alliterative then?

a perverse parker
a scheme sparker ...?

Peter Goulding said...

Never heard of a kenning, though Iggy McGovern had a similar sort of poem reach the final of Strokestown a year or two ago. Except he used three alternatives. Fascinating!

Totalfeckineejit said...

Great fun! I likes it. By coincidence one of my efforts is a sort of list starting with 'I am'

Happy nonetheless is a great way to be!

Titus said...

No, no, don't have to be! It's a way of getting a start-letter you don't have to the front of a word.

The Anglo-Saxon line has a break in the middle, and the two half-lines must alliterate. There are a number of ways of placing your words to do this, and the finest poems use the most technically and artistically accomplished patterns.

So if the poet was working on

My shoes protect me / made of fine fur

he might coin the kenning

My foot-coats protect me / made of fine fur.

That said, scheme sparker is a bit special...

Emerging Writer said...

Thanks everyone.
Peter. How do you mean Iggy used 3 alternatives? 3 lines? Rhyming?

120Socks - glad to cheer. Yes, too many roles and tasks for one poem I think.

Emerging Writer said...

Yes Titus, foot-coats is also a bit special. Fascinating. I read some about it in Stephen Fry's The Ode less travelled. It's very mathematical.

Dianne said...

kennings are right in my style, thanks for the link.
I love your world, I can see it!
Di
my ticket is HERE

Helen said...

Continuing education with each passing week! Just reading all the comments.

I hadn't heard of a kenning ... I enjoyed yours very much ~~ fascinating.

Karen said...

How revealing in so few lines! I feel as if I know you now.

Titus has me back in Senior English! When I decided to leave teaching, I said that if I had to teach Beowulf one more time, I'd give myself to Grendel!

swiss said...

a kenning! the best ideas are definitely the ones you wish you'd thought of yourself!

Anonymous said...

A fine example of that proto-rap form, the kenning. This rattles along very pleasingly.

Dave King said...

Wonderful! Like it. Very clever.