Random Friday-ness.
Mar. 7th, 2008 05:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gurdymonkey1. So why is it after a day so slow that stabbing myself through the eye with a ballpoint just to see what it feels like might be an improvement, the phone explodes at 3:10 and does not stop until 3:53 PM? I'm just sayin'....
2. Viking haiku. I shit thee not, O My Readers. Bardic competition at an upcoming local event, announced today on the kingdom's e-list. So, I wrote one and posted it to show how a hokku writin' Nihonjin would react if she ever encountered a Viking.
They must be demons!
Red faced, ice eyed and smelling
Like rain sodden dogs.
Well, actually, they would smell like wet sheep, but Japan doesn't have sheep, so wet dog will have to get my image across. However, it proves that it is possible to write haiku in English grammatically. Why nobody understands this second point is probably the result of haiku being taught by English teachers who read Japanese haiku in translation and think it's SUPPOSED to sound like stereo instructions with no verbs, as recited by Yoda. Japanese and English just plain don't work the same. A good poem is not gibberish.
Unfortunately, it will also lull the unsuspecting into thinking "Hey, this is easy!" Whenever some bardic type wants to lure neophytes into writing something for a competition, they say, "Do a haiku!" (Colin tried this line on me once. I did let him live.) Good haiku is not easy. If good haiku were easy, there would not be so much bad haiku out there.
3. How did I generate so much freaking laundry this week?
4. And in an inner girly girl moment, I am dithering about what to wear to a function tomorrow evening.
EDIT:
5. Before I forget, thanks tokproche and bovil for recommending Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart and to jupiterorbit for recommending Peter S. Beagle's Tamsin. Marvelously entertaining reads, both.
6. Is it drinking alone or having a drink with a friend if said friend is half a continent away and you're doing it via PM?
2. Viking haiku. I shit thee not, O My Readers. Bardic competition at an upcoming local event, announced today on the kingdom's e-list. So, I wrote one and posted it to show how a hokku writin' Nihonjin would react if she ever encountered a Viking.
They must be demons!
Red faced, ice eyed and smelling
Like rain sodden dogs.
Well, actually, they would smell like wet sheep, but Japan doesn't have sheep, so wet dog will have to get my image across. However, it proves that it is possible to write haiku in English grammatically. Why nobody understands this second point is probably the result of haiku being taught by English teachers who read Japanese haiku in translation and think it's SUPPOSED to sound like stereo instructions with no verbs, as recited by Yoda. Japanese and English just plain don't work the same. A good poem is not gibberish.
Unfortunately, it will also lull the unsuspecting into thinking "Hey, this is easy!" Whenever some bardic type wants to lure neophytes into writing something for a competition, they say, "Do a haiku!" (Colin tried this line on me once. I did let him live.) Good haiku is not easy. If good haiku were easy, there would not be so much bad haiku out there.
3. How did I generate so much freaking laundry this week?
4. And in an inner girly girl moment, I am dithering about what to wear to a function tomorrow evening.
EDIT:
5. Before I forget, thanks to
kproche and bovil for recommending Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart and to jupiterorbit for recommending Peter S. Beagle's Tamsin. Marvelously entertaining reads, both. 6. Is it drinking alone or having a drink with a friend if said friend is half a continent away and you're doing it via PM?
