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Unpublished material, ©2013 Neal Digre

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