Catawampus

Catawampus

Hello stranger; hope you enjoyed the opening act

Though there simply was no way to come through intact.

Disdain is the name of our game

Which many deign to disclaim.

Oh you don't understand? Then for God's sakes feign!

If this pisses you off, well that's just fine.

Sorry if such statements sound altogether terse

But here we're totally incapable

Of composing any _____ verse

{ & U could always do worse }

Ten year warm-up jumped the gun upon head start

Too late now to retreat or go back on story's arc

Magus mouse in a maze may someday outsmart

Lordly cats won't retract their meow—wild dogs mean it when they bark...

Over-Rhyme:

Beware lest dark forces below drag thee in their undertow.

The Mælstrom comes and might find thine art shallow.

Reconsider these terms and fly swift as a swallow!

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Minefield of Meanings

Minefield of Meanings

Watch your step:

There's no real right way

To speak about Poesy

Yet somehow it also happens

There are plenty of wrong ways!

Both lector and pupil

Say one thing, meanwhile

Mental and sentimental

Versifiers become divergent;

Their writs misunderstood by gen. public.

These subspecies chant lyric

Only amongst themselves

As do birds of a feather flocking

Together—before excluding any Other.

Think 'synchronized swarm of swallows'.

In this life we all want to be first

In line. Not left behind

Hence each of us breaks off a piece

Hoping that during days to come

Inspired implosions may eventually remind...

A foot soldier trudged fearlessly

Through hostile nobody lands

To tactfully detonate charges

Whose explosive echoes vibrate

Across Akasha's supernal field!

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Renegade Rollick

Renegade Rollick

- I -

The Poet is naught but a void

Wherein verbosity flourishes.

Or haven't you heard?

Empty pots make the loudest sound!

The Poem becomes a playground

Of deviant figures of speech; unusual suspects.

Like teens beating around suburban bushes

We were once ragamuffin rejects.

- II -

You shouldn't need anyone else to tell you

When your outer Being shines brilliant

Cause incendiary flare draws moths to its flame.

Such a soul blisters as does the scorching core of Earth's native Sol.

These misuses were self-taught by this tributary thrall of The Muses

Why not flaunt them for others who would benefit from what their art disabuses?

Divorce thy narrowed mind of all those erroneous views

Only then canst thou benefit from nouveau linguistic news...

- III -

As for the average reader

Yous nothin' but a basic BISCH

Whose tracks are always shallow.

Instead: Donne nous de la Différance

Pourquoi? Because for far too long

The proverbial playing field has lain fallow

So get cooking with this kitschy kitchenette set

Or never darken our doorstep again with your shadow!

- IV -

Oh you know what they say:

"He's just a hack!

Thinking he can reinvent the wheel —

The sheer nerve of some people!"


Well then, drink deep of these Ent-draughts little Hobbits

That you may one day grow up to scale

Them Promethean heights yonder way

Where lowbrow repartee, no longer holds sway...

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Semantic Satiation

Semantic Satiation

Let not our poetry become

sybaritic adulation.

Instead we ought to make a new

semiotic adumbration.

Nobody entertain any

sophomoric arrogation.

Forgo feeling sorry cause that's

 symptomatic abnegation.

Don't you shirk benefiting from

synthetic alteration.

Follow now the bouncing ball of

syllogistic deviation...

Why ever worry about such

semaphoric saturation?

Hopefully someone catches this

syntactic intonation:

There's a hidden treasure trove in

synergistic copulation.

So join us when lauding love as

synchronistic appellation!

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Pronounced Machiavellianism

Pronounced Machiavellianism

Swoons the pointy tip of dark triad;
Fell shadow side that alters one's arrow.

Amoral machinations might madden the mighty
Like an upstart principality that shirks legality.

For a Prince should rather be feared than revered.
Thus bend falsified truths, with unflinching impunity.

Dominance writes itself a blank cheque
From morally bankrupt foundations.

An invisible hand moves over the face
Of those whose eyes are always veiled.

Everything comes down to meaning nothing
Within such a bizarro scenario ...

REWIND & REWORD

Suggested Settings:

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Gematria

noun [guh-mey-tree-uh]: 

• a cabbalistic system of interpretation of the Scriptures by substituting for a particular word another word whose letters give the same numerical sum.

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Gematria


Hard as one may try
The letters and numbers
Cannot always match up.

Even friends mark mistakes
Expecting perfection itself —
Yet lacunae are left to fill.

They'll forget your prose
But recall rhyming cons;
Experimental camera obscured!

There's a broad disconnect
Between what's meant
And what's mentioned.

Much as one may like
Misinterpreted intention
Precludes them catching up ...


Translations:

 i. Numerology and prosody may mix, but isn't it nice to wing it once in a while?

ii. Everybody's a critic. Since we can't please most readers to begin with, why worry?

iii. In general, people fixate on a single facet of any artist's career. Many have neither the time nor mental capacity to slog through some no-name's portfolio!

iv. Self-explanatory (don't play dumb now).

v. There will forever be delays in communication between messenger and recipient. This distance distinguishes an erudite forward scout from a tongue-tied rearguard ...

Image: Master Mandala of Solomon, The King.

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Logophobia

“Language shapes the way we think, and determines what we can think about.” 

~ Benjamin Lee Whorf
 

“Language is the armory of the human mind, and at once contains the trophies of its past and the weapons of its future conquests.”

~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge

“Every language is a world. Without translation, we would inhabit parishes bordering on silence.”

~ George Steiner

Logophobia


Small minds only use little words.
Monosyllabic habits breed dum-dums
Who hear statements in their own language
As if they were spoken in some foreign dialect.

Creative turns of phrase irk the unthinking.
Lummoxes hate having to mull meanings
Over and above one's personal presets;
Pitiable specimens of sensibility!

Yet we mustn't fear any mutations.
Heck, let your mouth run the gamut
From the mundane to haute gambits
And may mimicry work in your favor.

Neither allow xenophobic tendencies
Ever taint thine appreciation of tongues.
Yea! Every phraseology offers us keys
That open portals to many worlds unseen ...

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Penetralia

Penetralia


Truth tellers recount happenings as accurately as memory serves

Whistleblowers point fingers to prosecute whom justice perturbs

Soothsayers may answer prayers when naysayers are unnerved

Axons conduct neural impulses to dendrites across synaptic nerves

Sensuality conveys more than possible for a writer's condensed blurb

Gather however much you can from what remains here unreserved

This meddling meter wears out its welcome—kicked onto the curb

Yet it's writ in decimal because such structures gleam superb

The town crier relays clear messages through voluble verve

In the end unjust ones gossip; spitting venom undeserved.

Image: Thrice-Great Hermes, Master of Mysteries.

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Hipsters Shall Hail This:

Hipsters Shall Hail This:

Come ye! DC or Marvel G33x

Linux nerds and torrent freaks

Steampunks, Cyberpunks, cool hunters all

Indie band junkies (another brick in the wall)

Trend setters are bed wetters 

Compared to this scofflaw


The fatal flaw is to follow

Without acknowledging source code

BETA tests find the unimpressed are quite callow

Trolls ROFL while delivering their corroded payload

#AnonS are embattled by total media control

BTW; nobody rocks as hard as Dave Grohl



In other news, there are those born just yesterday

Who take everything for granted

They must be reprimanded

For seeing only Fifty Shades of Grey

They can't recite classics like Dorian Gray

It won't be long now before they're disenchanted


So glory hogs hop on board an antipoetic bandwagon

Plant your stake first and lay claim to acclaim

Soon our zeitgeist will change look and name

Retrieve sunken keywords such as a lagan

Awaken latent intellect. Spit fire sleeping dragon!

No virtual world nor video game shall remain the same
...

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PleonasM

PleonasM


Long time no write
This site out of sight
The Nous grew silent
Which in retro sounds right?

The struggle continues
Nagual knows that it's REAL
But something ETHEREAL
Yet tangible waits on us to feel...

Beyond creative explosions
Destructive emotions
Treks through trials then commotions
Life meets death with {{convulsions}}

Still the fight is worthwhile &
Stakes are far too high to ignore.
Organic existence is just one aisle
That our Consciousness must explore.

Posterity will bear out this work's value;
Polished gems always outclass any hullabaloo.
Pretentious labels get attached to such a lofty purview cause
Perfection is offensive to mere mortals who envy you, cuz!

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On The Warpath

On The Warpath


We will consecrate this act of war
With the flesh of gods and
Ambrosia; Nectar of Immortality!

Another eclipse approaches —
A brutal battle encroaches...

The enemy hears our tenebrific chant:
Mortis Invictus
Terror Forever!

Vicious, vile, Ars vindictive
Yes such power is addictive
It lays waste to the edifice
Of orderly artifice 
(In every way unpredicted)

Chaotic convulsions carry on
Death doth rattle
Open maw; give us MORE!

Grimace foul ghoul
Facing abject defeat

May you learn before parting
With whom not to compete.
Pigs pale | next to princely elite

But beware the court Fool
Because sometimes suddenly
A hidden king is revealed
Then any shield shall yield
To that psychic sword he will wield

All foes fear his fierce horrific rant:
Mortis Invictus
Tyrant Forever!

Minor Arcana | King of Swords

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The Gospel Gone Vita

The Gospel Gone Vita

Ah La Vida
Vital Force
Very Quick &
Plus vite!

Dolce Vita
Vitality — Speeding
Vim, verve
Vivacity!

Vibrant Vanitas;
Verisimilitude lacking meaning?
Veracity seems sweeter when
Velocity is freed up!


Entelechy's Footnote:

Hallelujah oh unnamed Lord or Lady
May a divine whirlwind lift us aloft
Mortal trappings are more than meat
The eye and other sense organs delay
Behind our brains unable to bear sway
Of one's life outlook verging on defeat
Write off whatever they say some creator coughed
Warriors thrive halfway, between bright and shady.

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Self-Portrait In Epithets (Rare Birthday Edition)

June 27th 1978, San Salvador, capital of El Salvador (Central America). The first stirrings of a lengthy and bloody civil war were being felt as the so-called Cold War reached its boiling point outside the U.S.A.  

Leftist FMLN guerillas were organizing to challenge the right-wing dictatorship of the ARENA party, igniting one of the most brutal conflicts the region has ever known.

Into this political hotbed, a boy who would later renounce his Christian name was then born. Like other Central Americans, Salvadoreans are a Mestizo people who descend from Spanish Conquistadors as well as the Tlaxcaltec tribes that happily helped to overthrow the Aztec Empire. Indeed, the Tlaxcaltec's migration from Mexico over many centuries is why Nahuatl (the imperial Aztec language) is still spoken by some natives so far South.

Itz (Obsidian) Quauhtli (Eagle) had parents who were on either side of the armed struggle and hence fled elsewhere until ending up in North America, where Latinos are the most overlooked and underestimated 'minority' despite being present everywhere.

Having already learnt how to read and write in Spanish, young ItzQuauhtli soon mastered English too.  Still, he couldn't help noticing that even though it was his second language, he seemed to have a much better handle on it than the average Anglophone. This simple fact drove Itz to write with increasing grandiloquence, making a game of how impenetrable his writing was becoming to the majority of readers.

Adopting the tenets of Chilean Anti-Poet Nicanor Parra, ItzQuauhtli took things a step further and started developing many as yet undiscovered variations of Poetry, which may remain thus forever (since he also spurns the commercialized spotlight).

If all this sounds like the tooting of one's own horn, then you're probably onto something. Today, for once indulging in poetic prowess, he lays out a list of his favourite soubriquets for himself ...

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Self-Portrait In Epithets

Chief Without Tribe

Late-Blooming Upstart

Karma's Enforcer

The Most Depressed Optimist

He Who Sings Always

Mr Human Thesaurus

Contradictory Cancerian

Slave To The Music

Him Blessed by Shiva, Beloved of Kali

Ever Moon Thirsty

Destiny's Jester - Outcast On Its Dance Floor

Heretic To All Faiths

Inamorato Incognito

Zavala La Bala

Taco Grande

Dirty D

One Super Paratrooper

A Feline Prince Among Underdogs

Herculean Sisyphus

Balam Quitze (Smiling Jaguar) 

ItzQuauhtli (Obsidian Eagle)

Quetzalcoatl's Final Loyal Descendant

Image: Cuauhtemoc (Diving Eagle - Last Aztec Emperor)

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The Nature of Nothing

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Author's Note: For more on NOTHING, visit New Scientist. 

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The Nature of Nothing

There is no such thing as "No-Thing"

For that which does not exist

Can in no way be said to have presence

In other words, Nothing does not exist!

These may seem blatant statements of the obvious
But the prevalence of double-negatives
In regular speech is a clear indicator
That such statements aren't actually understood.

Nothing seems to be a lot harder to think about
Merely by virtue of its being an absence, a void
So we inadvertently reify it as a "Sum-Thing"
Bringing us back around full-circle to square zero ...

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For Posterity . . .

For Posterity . . .

The greatest Poet of this century came & went

Yet no literary journal will ever catch that scent

Gloss can but poorly misrepresent

What only appears to be an accident

Whereas ideas form, actions cement

Impregnable logic without a dent

Therefore fine lady or dapper gent

Bolster the bent of thine own Intent

Real re-evolution shalt ye then foment

Leaving Earth's orbit — with no lament!

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"God" Was A Four-Letter Word . . .

"God" Was A Four-Letter Word...

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"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." ~ John 1:1

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And yet few ever bother asking what that word [Logos, transliterated from Greek: λόγος] was!

It sure as hell wasn't the Danish / Dutch / Germanic offshoot everyone is so fond of these days: G-O-D.

The Christians of Byzantium (founded by Constantine) to whom ALL contemporary believers in Christ owe their creed had a very different set of names for the 'Lord'. 

i.e. the less catchy: Hupsistos or, if you prefer: Pantocrator.

Going back further to the Hebrew Torah, it was forbidden to speak the Tetragrammaton (four letters) of YHWH, from where Jehovah is derived. Vowels were excluded — thus confounding said pronoun.

There's immense wisdom in this approach because really, how could an almighty Being be reduced to a few mere syllables, becoming sullied by the utterance of our mortal tongues?

Unfortunately, mainly due to differences in languages, most polemics regarding the existence or nature of God amount to nothing other than disagreements concerning one's preferred Signifier.

As a result, religious fundamentalism rather restricts spiritual evolution through its dogmatic use of linguistic concepts that people become emotionally attached to. It would indeed seem that Faith is largely a matter of subjective sentimentality.

Even more vexingly, these emotional tendencies can carry negative side-effects. For instance, within the blackened hearts of those firebrands where anger and hate predominate.

As a Philologist, Friedrich Nietzsche was aware of the above fallacies and famously declared that "God is dead". This is because he saw people not worshiping divinity directly, but only going through empty motions and reciting the rosary without any real reflection.

In fact, some Post-Modern thinkers have accused the whole Western Metaphysical tradition of Logocentrism; an incurable obsession with that primal WORD — leading to centuries of bloody conflict.

The Truth is that Allah / God / Krishna / Yahweh (whatever) is simply beyond the scope of finite human thought and most certainly ineffable. Now that we have entered a new millennium, it no longer serves anybody to squabble over such limiting names. We ought to move forward from here and embark on a mission of mutual comprehension!

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