It was a way to spend xmas day, was it Bill?
It’s true, lots of poets have taken a gander at the alphabet (I did one for an artiste friend who drew the letters for it in a book).
And of course, for the truly dedicated use of vowels, there is Christian Bök’s fantastic EUNOIA (& he’s an Aussie of sorts now, too).
Doug
> On Dec 27, 2018, at 6:38 AM, Patrick McManus <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> cheers to waft of waffle
> p's a Patrick piffling perfectly pulsating!
>
> On 27/12/2018 08:29, Bill Wootton wrote:
>> Thanks, Barry. Fascinating historical document, Zorm’s Lemma. Have not gone
>> through it all yet but I see that she does nor go slavishly through all
>> letters either. It would take some time to shoot those images, well done to
>> link Lady with Madonna. The accent is kind of creepy, other worldly in the
>> first bit. Is that a transatlantic accent? Like Sylvia Plath?
>>
>> Mot sure where mine will go or whether I should just leave it.
>>
>> Bill
>>
>> On Thu, 27 Dec 2018 at 3:16 am, Barry Alpert <
>> [log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>>> Bill,
>>>
>>> Thanks for your charming alphabet poem. A major focus of fine press &
>>> artists books for centuries (I regularly read descriptions of them in rare
>>> book dealer catalogues). Right now I can't remember particular alphabetical
>>> poems coming to my attention relatively recently, but Hollis Frampton (who
>>> studied The Pisan Cantos with Ezra Pound at St. Elizabeth's) released an
>>> alphabetical film ZORN'S LEMMA in 1970 which intrigued me upon first
>>> viewing and now that I discover it on YouTube . . .
>>>
>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ec2-GZRYGd8
>>>
>>> Barry
>>>
>>> On Wed, 26 Dec 2018 07:11:48 +1100, Bill Wootton <[log in to unmask]>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Let’s take a little alphabet
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> letter by letter but let’s
>>>>
>>>> not start with a
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> let’s have a gander at g
>>>>
>>>> a good enough place to start
>>>>
>>>> g can be genuine, generous
>>>>
>>>> or globular, gullible, a grunter,
>>>>
>>>> an active participle ender
>>>>
>>>> gunning with his ‘in’ running mates
>>>>
>>>> but g is no a-lister
>>>>
>>>> too often grubby, gaping
>>>>
>>>> or gelled up,
>>>>
>>>> affecting genius
>>>>
>>>> and expecting
>>>>
>>>> jilted cousin j to genuflect
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> if it’s a smarter consonant you seek
>>>>
>>>> look no further than c
>>>>
>>>> - like g, can be soft or hard
>>>>
>>>> but look what else you cop -
>>>>
>>>> conservative, classy,
>>>>
>>>> central, circular
>>>>
>>>> crisp cheddar cheeses
>>>>
>>>> notice its checks
>>>>
>>>> and balances
>>>>
>>>> wherever it crops up
>>>>
>>>> it can dance the can-can
>>>>
>>>> yes we cannot
>>>>
>>>> be convinced that c
>>>>
>>>> can collapse
>>>>
>>> >from its all-conquering perch
>>>>
>>>> but what of the vowels you ask
>>>>
>>>> well don’t let’s get started
>>>>
>>>> on eddy everywhere e
>>>>
>>>> - sentencers and scrabblers
>>>>
>>>> reach and seek for him too often
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> a’s are anyones
>>>>
>>>> u’s are unlovely q buddies
>>>>
>>>> o’s offer more, round out
>>>>
>>>> options but can obstruct orifices
>>>>
>>>> obliterate one’s onions
>>>>
>>>> no, o
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> should dip his lid to international, inky i
>>>>
>>>> - i is interesting
>>>>
>>>> immoral, immeasurable,
>>>>
>>>> ideal, ironic, isolating
>>>>
>>>> and can do e
>>>>
>>>> if you like,
>>>>
>>>> right, Ian?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> s is sassy, sanguine,
>>>>
>>>> a scene-stealing siren,
>>>>
>>>> always up for a plural
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> d, a doe, a downer,
>>>>
>>>> developing from drivel
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> f fails and falls frightfully,
>>>>
>>>> freighted with farts
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> z’s zeal fizzles
>>>>
>>>> h hums and haws
>>>>
>>>> vapid v no victor
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> t’s tops in trees,
>>>>
>>>> triumphs in thistles
>>>>
>>>> but totally terrible
>>>>
>>>> at tinkering with tomorrow
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> p’s a prince
>>>>
>>>> or a poor pencil
>>>>
>>>> privatised,
>>>>
>>>> a pneumatic phantom
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> r romps, roves, rails,
>>>>
>>>> a raspberry risker
>>>>
>>>> and randy ratbag
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> but it’s double-clunking w
>>>>
>>>> that wins the all-wound award
>>>>
>>>> why w, you wise and whiskery wonder,
>>>>
>>>> wrapping wine and whisky
>>>>
>>>> whenever and wherever you want,
>>>>
>>>> warping warrants,
>>>>
>>>> westering winds,
>>>>
>>>> weeping at windows -
>>>>
>>>> what a way
>>>>
>>>> to wind down this waft
>>>>
>>>> of waffle
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> bw
>>>>
>>>> 25.12.18
>>>>
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>>>>
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Douglas Barbour
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https://eclecticruckus.wordpress.com/
Recent publications: (With Sheila E Murphy) Continuations & Continuations 2 (UofAPress).
Recording Dates (Rubicon Press).
Listen. If (UofAPress):
It was cold, in a way that Shadow was starting to become familiar with: colder inside the building than out. He wondered how they did that, if it was a British building secret.
Neil Gaiman
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