A Manner of Speaking

I have been super swamped with final projects and studying for finals so I haven't had the time or brain capacity to write a full blog post.  Excuses, excuses, I know, but I feel like a geology lab final mapping project, a computer science planetary gravitation animator program, a Japanese vocabulary quiz, and a Japanese final exam are valid excuses when condensed into a three day period.  It's been a while since I last posted a sonnet, though, so I'll tag in a sonnet I wrote earlier this year.  I'll get my NaNoWriMo debrief out once I'm not up to my ears in schoolwork.

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I started writing this sonnet over a year ago but only finished it a couple months ago.  That is mainly because of the long periods during which I didn't work on it but also because it just took me that long to get it right.  The original idea I started with over a year ago was to write a sonnet using only idioms.  So here it is:



A Manner of Speaking

Though silver streaks this cloud contains, please hold
Your horses -- specially Charley.  Someone beat
Him for a bucket kicked in moment's heat
And kept his eye for on the rest.  All told,
Should canny cat possess my tongue then cold
My blood will run till thoughts I think on feet.
So hungry for coherent words I'd eat
Your horse and pay with arms and legs I sold
For less than heads and tails.  But Charley brings
A gift of verse; don't look him in the mouth.
Yet still I'm on a limb, no room to swing
The canny cat against the clock.  Should things
From wrong directions rubbed on you go South
I'm leaving you with this: a piece of cake.



How many idioms did you count?  Leave a comment with your answer.  The first one to get it right gets a virtual high five!  Woo!  Once finals are over I'll do my best to get the backlog of posts I say I'm going to post posted.  That's all for now.  Have a great week!  -NLD

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Unpublished material, ©2013 Neal Digre

A Stray

I'm sooo ready to be done with high school!  These past few weeks have gone by extremely slowly and I"m just ready to move onto the next stage of life.  I realize my blogging skills about my life are rather dry so I'm going to try and work on my life-blogging skillery.  The main focus of this blog, though, will always be the sonnets, so if you'd rather not even bother reading what I have to stay about my weekly doings you can just skip over this first paragraph. I wouldn't be offended in the slightest.  Now, on to the sonnet.

This sonnet is rather self explanatory as to how I came to write it.  Enjoy!



A Stray

A suckling cat appeared upon my porch.

A stray. I ran for fear it was aggrieved.

Her only ailment, though, now I've perceived

That trembling ember in the fading torch

Of those exhausted yellow eyes that scorch

My soul with warmth, a mother's heart bereaved...

Forgotten. Paw for pittance not received,

And she moves on – the Nature of my porch.

With utter ease my hand did slam that door

Because I did not want that cat to stay.

Oh God! Oh please! Protect her I implore!

I watched her haggard form just slip away

Beyond all sight, beyond all time. No more.

Still I leave scraps of food for Her – a stray.

Completion date: 3/17/2012

Unpublished material, ©2012 Neal Digre

Broken Backspace Key

It's Wednesday and I had a short day of school! What could be better?  Well, maybe better if I had actually written a little bit this week, but due to the substantial amount of homework I had... that didn't happen.  I've also just had the general feeling of laziness which isn't conducive to writing sonnets, either.  Thankfully I have a few more sonnets in reserve.

A couple weeks ago my backspace key broke.  It pissed me off so much I had to write about it.  Enjoy!

Broken Backspace Key

O backspace key, convenient there you rest
Within my reach - one move abrupt - my hand
Then hammers down; deletion I demand.
The tainted words to which we all attest,
O blesséd backspace key you did arrest;
And all derision else-ways they'd withstand
Is nothing more than thought in our command.
O backspace key, too much we did request.
O broken backspace key - abused, devoured,
Engulfed in humankind's calamity -
Expose the caustic core. Your wreckage scours
Acidic sludge; reveals our basest plea
Afflicted neath impressions thus gone sour,

Compressed upon you broken backspace key.

Completion date: 2/29/2012

Unpublished material, ©2012 Neal Digre

Concerning Sonnets, Et cetera

Two posts in one week? Whoa!  Well, I thought it would be a good idea to kick off my first week of blogging with a bang! Also, I'm posting again today because I want to dwindle down my stockpile of sonnets.  I've decided I'd like to keep my posts a little more recent so there's not an entire month between when I finish a sonnet and when I post it, so this should help with that.

This sonnet is one that I wrote in response to finishing my first sonnet.  I don't really want to give too much of my intended meaning away because I feel that takes away from allowing you to interpret it in the way you choose; but I must mention that with this sonnet I wanted to capture the process of writing a sonnet (at least for me).  You probably already noticed this but I based the name of my blog on this sonnet.  Enjoy!

Concerning Sonnets, Et cetera

I chose persistent battle locked amidst

Fermented words. Dismember judgement; hack

And mangle every prized appendage. Black

Repugnant blotches splattered outward didst

Obscure the pure quixotic view betwixt

The portal's lustrous pulse. Oh flee this fact:

Without a key my way shall ever lack

Admittance through this passage ere affixed.

Ye evil tendril wrapped around my quill,

I have no fear if thou lead me askew.

For solely through the writhing wretched will

The gleaming gate be opened up anew.

To pass, to see, to be; in me instil

A fervour felt by only those who flew.

Completion date: 2/22/2012

Unpublished Material, ©2012 Neal Digre

As this august gem strikes the briny sea

The first post!  Most importantly, thank you for reading this!  This is something I've had a lot of fun with so far and I hope you get as much enjoyment from reading my poems as I get from writing them.  Secondly, I want to use this first post to outline what each blog will contain.  I will always try and start out like this - just talking about my week, the poem, the inspiration that went into the poem, and anything else I feel like talking about.  Then, of course, will be the sonnet.  Following each sonnet I will put the date I completed it.  I'm planning on writing each sonnet three or four weeks ahead of when I post it, so I think posting the completion date will be helpful.  I was a bit anxious to get this first post out there so I'm posting it today, but in the future I will try and post every Wednesday.  If you have any questions, suggestions, or just want to let me know if you enjoyed the week's sonnet PLEASE feel free to leave a comment.  I've rambled on about this long enough.  Now to my description of this week's sonnet.

The week before Valentine's Day in my AP Lit class we studied the love sonnets of Elizabeth Barrett Browning.  As something fun, I wanted to write my own love sonnet to share with the class.  What started out as just something fun to do for a few extra points has turned into so much more than that.  And now, without further delay, I present to you my first sonnet of many.



As this august gem strikes the briny sea

As this august gem strikes the briny sea,
Enveloped, constant churning, frantic! - lost;
As loathsome, trifling, freakish blights accost
Almighty men encouraged well to flee.
As frightened children conquer vile debris;
As crimson sunrise reaches out to most
Who feel the lurid, icy sting of frost;
As those amended shed light unto me.
As fallible as I may be - oh Stay!
A many mortal thing amid us may ensue
Yet salty tears we spill are washed away.
No woe nor rime shall ever more subdue
This feeling causing two in one to say,
With all my being, always, I love you.


Completion date: 2/12/2012
Unpublished Material, ©2012 Neal Digre