Berniegourley

LATEST ARTICLES ( 3743 )

• POEM: I’ve Seen Sunsets [Day 12 NaPoMo: Rondeau]

  

  [A rondeau is a closed poetic form of French origin. It uses tetrameter, a half-line refrain, and rhyme schemes of aab and aabba. The first poem I ever learned... Read more

  Posted on 12 April 2020 SOCIETY, TRAVEL

• POEM: Train of Sleep [Day 11 NaPoMo: Free Verse]

  waking in a train car at the rail yard slouched in the darkness - but not pure darkness because the lights are always on at the railyard and the pale light... Read more

  Posted on 11 April 2020 SOCIETY, TRAVEL

• Rainy Day Tanka [Day 10 of NaPoMo: Tanka]

  

  [A tanka is a Japanese form closely related to the shorter form, haiku. In fact, a haiku can be thought of as the upper phrase of a potential tanka.... Read more

  Posted on 10 April 2020 SOCIETY, TRAVEL

• Cloud Ruba’iyat [Day 9 NaPoMo: Ruba’i]

  

  [Ruba'i is a Persian form of poetry written in four lines, i.e. one quatrain. A ruba'iyat is a collection of such poems. [These quatrains aren't necessarily... Read more

  Posted on 09 April 2020 SOCIETY, TRAVEL

• BOOK REVIEW: Odyssey by Homer [A. Pope Translation]

  Translated by: Alexander Pope Amazon page This epic poem tells the tale of the action-packed return of the King of Ithaca, Odysseus (Ulysses in Latin,) from... Read more

  Posted on 09 April 2020 SOCIETY, TRAVEL

• POEM: Ode to My Immune System [Day 8 NaPoMo: Ode]

  Accused of failing to think about you, I cannot deny that it's true. My lymph bristles with white blood cells that make invading me treacherous hell. And... Read more

  Posted on 08 April 2020 SOCIETY, TRAVEL

• POEM: A Few Clerihew [Day 7 NaPoMo: Clerihew]

  Edmund Clerihew Bentley delivered his sarcasm gently with just four lines using the simplest of rhymes It's said that Adolf Hitler shoulda been killed when he... Read more

  Posted on 07 April 2020 SOCIETY, TRAVEL

• BOOK REVIEW: A Little History of Poetry by John Carey

  A Little History of Poetry by John Carey My rating: 5 of 5 stars Out: April 21, 2020 Amazon page This book offers a wealth of biographical insight into poets,... Read more

  Posted on 07 April 2020 SOCIETY, TRAVEL

• POEM: Escaping the Frame [Day 6 NaPoMo: Villanelle]

  

  [A villanelle is a six-stanza form (originally French) in which the first five stanzas are three lines (tercets) with an A-B-A rhyme scheme, and the sixth is... Read more

  Posted on 06 April 2020 SOCIETY, TRAVEL

• POEM: Bangalore [Day 5 NaPoMo; Acrostic]

  

  B ridge between high-tech and no tech A lso, city of garrisons, gardens, and grandparents N ative of none and yet Namma Bengaluru G rowing bamboo-like with dens... Read more

  Posted on 05 April 2020 SOCIETY, TRAVEL

• POEM: Away [NPM Day 4: Ghazal]

  

  [Ghazal is a poetic form of Arab origin consisting of between 5 and 15 couplets. Traditionally, it is metered (how many feet per line varies from poem to poem,... Read more

  Posted on 04 April 2020 SOCIETY, TRAVEL

• BOOK REVIEW: The Immune System: A Very Short Introduction by Paul Klenerman

  The Immune System: A Very Short Introduction by Paul Klenerman My rating: 5 of 5 stars Amazon page This is a volume in the "A Very Short Introduction" [AVSI]... Read more

  Posted on 03 April 2020 SOCIETY, TRAVEL

• Solitude Haiku [On the Third Day of NaPoMo]

  

  let us now pray for short people with no one to reach the top shelf moon-gazer sitting on a rooftop hugging knees silent morning awakened by the sounds that... Read more

  Posted on 03 April 2020 SOCIETY, TRAVEL

• A Sonnet in Contradictions

  a tantrum caught on the face, but not thrown a barrier unseen, like a mime's "box" a sprouting plant sprung from a seed unsown and time shown on broken, not... Read more

  Posted on 02 April 2020 SOCIETY, TRAVEL

• BOOK REVIEW: Pericles by William Shakespeare [at Least in Part, Maybe]

  Amazon page Summary [Spoiler-laden]: Prince Pericles of Tyre visits King Antiochus to check out prospects for wedding the King's daughter. Pericles confirms tha... Read more

  Posted on 31 March 2020 SOCIETY, TRAVEL

• Flowering Haiku

  

  hectic sidewalk frangipani blossoms stepped over calling bees scent, color, and glory unrivaled the hillside when rhododendrons bloom shangri la for two weeks... Read more

  Posted on 28 March 2020 SOCIETY, TRAVEL

• Falling Water Haiku

  

  thunder yon Zambezi rafting greenhorns beware cataract water wind-misted plume-zone green terraced hill rice paddy cascades depth perfection dry season murmur t... Read more

  Posted on 26 March 2020 SOCIETY, TRAVEL

• POEM: Calypso Facto

  

  For seven years, Ulysses was hostage to Calypso. He was like, "Wife is waiting, gotta go!" "You know, by Neptune, you are still cursed?" "Being stranded with yo... Read more

  Posted on 25 March 2020 SOCIETY, TRAVEL

• BOOK REVIEW: The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell

  Amazon page This novel follows three Zambian families through three generations from before there was a Zambia (when it was Northern Rhodesia) into the near... Read more

  Posted on 24 March 2020 SOCIETY, TRAVEL

• BOOK REVIEW: A Choice of Comic and Curious Verse Ed. by J.M. Cohen

  A Choice of Comic and Curious Verse by J.M. Cohen My rating: 5 of 5 stars Amazon page This poetry anthology consists of works selected and arranged by J.M. Cohe... Read more

  Posted on 24 March 2020 SOCIETY, TRAVEL