Same Title Challenge

[Angeline]

Nano Clams And Other Molluscs
(A Glosa)

"The time has come," the Walrus said,
To talk of many things:
Of shoes and ships and sealing-wax
Of cabbages and kings
And why the sea is boiling hot
And whether pigs have wings."
-Lewis Carroll, The Walrus and the Carpenter

The time has come," the Walrus said
to wash into the brine,
cast away earthly delights,
fleshy limbs and spine
and live among the quiet deeps.
Yes. It might be fine

to talk of many things
but think on losing speech!
On touch undone, nacreous, beslimed,
all words beyond my reach,
and even reach beyond my ken?
We declaimed on the beach

of shoes and ships and sealing-wax
of meadows and of foam
that courses here so close by us
and so far from my home.
"His house has many mansions,"
so the walrus did intone

Of cabbages and kings
of life below a reef
a mantle there but not a hearth
a foot, a head, no teeth,
grit that may in time bear pearl,
the watery relief

and why the sea is boiling hot
or why the sky is green,
the several ways the ocean wins,
the triumph of saline.
Oh his persuasion wearied me.
I longed to be made clean.

Hence I've come to slow and drift
to sink, see what it brings,
sense light filter through the murk,
know when a dolphin sings,
never worry past the sand
and whether pigs have wings.

 

[GuiltyPleasure]

In shallow pools,
low tide exposed,
on rocks in gardens
seaweed sowed lurk
molluscs
often overlooked
for speedier folk like
shrimp or crab
escaping sideways,
weapon ready just in case.
Clustered tiny mussel-squatters
shouldering on an empty shell
that suddenly declares another lodger
scrambling, claws first, into view.
Whelks and winkles, clammy cousins
bearing very different armour,
bustle slowly barnacle-bound.
A nano-ocean, crèche for young,
exposed and seeking safety.
Wade warily, don't mess with the
molluscs.​

 

[butters]

mea culpa

nano-clams and other molluscs

immeasurable, the tidal sweep,
to creatures small as grains of sand
that favour jet-propulsion and
will seed-like secrets safely keep.

what warms an eyeless clam's thin blood?
how beats a tiny shellfish heart?
is love, like food, a filtered art?
a happy clam a clam in mud?

Ming, the arctic bivalve, swam
far longer than his hinged-shell friends;
did his means prolong his ends?
was Ming the king of all his clan?

do other molluscs all aspire
to live and filter? give their pledge?
surviving, walk the razor's edge,
evade the pan, and fear the fire?

scallops, with their many eyes,
discern a distant, filtered sun
yet, still, from fate they cannot run
and timeless seas shall fall, and rise.


*****************************************************************

http://news.nationalgeographic.co.uk/news/2007/10/071029-oldest-clam.html

A 220-year-old taken from American waters in 1982 holds the official Guinness Book of World Records oldest animal title. Unofficially, the record belongs to a 374-year-old Icelandic clam housed in a German museum.

The new clam is at least 30 years older, according to the Bangor University team. The animal died when the researchers counted its rings.

405 years old, and it died having its rings counted. it was alive when shakespeare was writing. *sigh*

 

[darkerdreamer]

Weaving fibers even other machines could not see
the nano-clam works tirelessly on the ocean floor,
tethering the new deep sea drilling machine
with diamond filament that shimmers like gossamer.
Other molluscs sneer in their toothless manner,
wondering why he spits when they swallow.

 

[Angeline]

I'm not sure that everyone has posted yet but I had to say this is an impressive group of poems. All informative, some more ironic and funny, some more straightforward, some more thoughtful, some more wistful. We do good work together folks.

I think we should try this again and soon!

 

[Tzara]

Nano-Clams and Other Molluscs

From clam or oyster, cell-sized seedling
First drifts to silt on ocean's floor
And there it burrows, needful, needling
Betwixt some rocks. It leaves no spoor
For predators who might be lunching,
And grows a shell to escape crunching
By random sea star or clawed crab,
The both of which would love to grab
Our little bivalve, who's quite meaty
(And tasty too!) and make an end
Of our shy, mild molluscan friend.
'Twould be a pity—he's a sweetie—
But if these shellfish have to die,
They're best when breaded and deep fried.

 

[Cinner]

Nano-clams and other molluscs

Gliding in their personal ooze,
Haemocyanin fuelled.
Monsters of myth
and old television shows:
squid and octopuses;
cuttlefish, limpets and slugs,
haunting young children’s dreams.

Spineless rabble of Poseidon’s kingdom;
innumerably prolific,
gastronomic delights,
revolting, elusive aphrodisiacs:
snails and mussels;
nano-clams, oysters and scallops,
feeding grown men’s desires.

 

[butters]

I'm not sure that everyone has posted yet but I had to say this is an impressive group of poems. All informative, some more ironic and funny, some more straightforward, some more thoughtful, some more wistful. We do good work together folks.

I think we should try this again and soon!

i've enjoyed reading every single one. *nods*
so far there are 3 that speak more to me than the others, but everyone will have their own favourites.

count me in for next time!

when it looks like everyone's posted, i'll stick my comments here on all poms.

 

[Remec]

Yes, yes, I'm late, again...seems to be the story more often than not these days...but assuming I can sort things out (figures that the muses would be over active instead of missing in action for a change), I'll have something up today or tomorrow morning...

*sigh*

 

[UnderYourSpell]

I came looking for Harry Hill and found you! It's been a delightful morning reading your poems!

Thanks!

Why thank you kind lady you made my day

 

[UnderYourSpell]

Didn't we do well ?!!! *You may now pat yourselves on the back*

 

[Angeline]

i've enjoyed reading every single one. *nods*
so far there are 3 that speak more to me than the others, but everyone will have their own favourites.

count me in for next time!

when it looks like everyone's posted, i'll stick my comments here on all poms.

You are wonderful. I was thinking of doing that but we're getting near to a heavy houseguest rotation (everyone loves to come here in early summer), so I may be more absent for a few weeks. We'll see.

Yes, yes, I'm late, again...seems to be the story more often than not these days...but assuming I can sort things out (figures that the muses would be over active instead of missing in action for a change), I'll have something up today or tomorrow morning...

*sigh*

I'm keeping the thread stuck till Tuesday or so. You have plenty of time.

Didn't we do well ?!!! *You may now pat yourselves on the back*

We did! We can make good poems from almost any title, I believe.

 

[CharleyH]

Consider the sex-life of a mollusc
who one year is Charlie, then Flo
when the heat down below on the seabed
raises expectations to grow
a different appendage than last year,
while clinging spellbound to a rock,
is this sudden appearance a godsend
or does it come as one hell of a shock?

Whilst squirting his stuff out at random
does he watch Argonaut Octopi
with envy at sexual prowess
as a detached penis swims by?

So next time you tip back an Oyster
and it slips down your throat like a treat,
spare a thought for who you just swallowed,
last year was he Petra or Pete?

LOL- I loved it. I think you could work stanza 3, better, but man, oh, man Annie, you have a keen sense of sexual humor.

 

[CharleyH]

Nanoclams and Other Mollusks

Nanoclams and other Mollusks live between the tides
trapped in the margins where dry land rides
the ocean and holds us high above the world,
where we walk in the light and sleep curled
and entwined, safe and unaware of the truth,
nanoclams and other mollusks, since the youth
of this planet earth have been the glue and binder
that holds Earth together and without would find her
scattered across the galaxy and universe
leaving us to crawl in the debris, or worse.

I love this ending:
scattered across the galaxy and universe
leaving us to crawl in the debris, or worse.

 

[CharleyH]

Nano-Clams and other Molluscs

Inundo:

Oh snap, you freakin nano-clams,
pop and crackle, yeah.
Lay your nano-babble down, sweet and slimy.
Grimy annoying absolute absurdity,
are you real,
or just another Sabbath spoiler
masquerading as a mollusk?

Exant:

What'sa matter with mistress mollusc?
Initiate investigation,
she's gone limp'n loose,
derma's turned'a livid hue,
what's your problem, languorous Sue?

Your suckers pucker, pensive pouts,
echoed by your nano-clam;
has invertebrateness become such'a stone
that you would crave'a bone?

Decant:

So flow, you freakin nano clams,
take your silly hyphen too.
Crawl away you many mollusca,
snap, crackle, and pop into
the bottle from whense you came.

Sue, you can stay. Cocktail?

I don't usually enjoy alliteration, but "Your suckers pucker, pensive pouts," is good.

 

[CharleyH]

Nano Clams And Other Molluscs
(A Glosa)

"The time has come," the Walrus said,
To talk of many things:
Of shoes and ships and sealing-wax
Of cabbages and kings
And why the sea is boiling hot
And whether pigs have wings."
-Lewis Carroll, The Walrus and the Carpenter

The time has come," the Walrus said
to wash into the brine,
cast away earthly delights,
fleshy limbs and spine
and live among the quiet deeps.
Yes. It might be fine

to talk of many things
but think on losing speech!
On touch undone, nacreous, beslimed,
all words beyond my reach,
and even reach beyond my ken?
We declaimed on the beach

of shoes and ships and sealing-wax
of meadows and of foam
that courses here so close by us
and so far from my home.
"His house has many mansions,"
so the walrus did intone

Of cabbages and kings
of life below a reef
a mantle there but not a hearth
a foot, a head, no teeth,
grit that may in time bear pearl,
the watery relief

and why the sea is boiling hot
or why the sky is green,
the several ways the ocean wins,
the triumph of saline.
Oh his persuasion wearied me.
I longed to be made clean.

Hence I've come to slow and drift
to sink, see what it brings,
sense light filter through the murk,
know when a dolphin sings,
never worry past the sand
and whether pigs have wings.

I love how not once in the poem you refer to the title, yet you give an impression that all you are talking about is "Nano Clams And Other Molluscs". Great form, by the way.

 

[Angeline]

I just read through all the entries thus far and I am hard-pressed to pick favorites. There are things I love (and some I don't) about each poem (mine included). A few observations that are just my little old opinions so feel free to disagree.

I love that we have a fair representation of form poems. Mine and Tzara's, obviously, but UYS is writing some form I don't recognize (or she is just sticking to a meter from verse to verse). And butters' poem is a little form-like to me as she repeats questions across strophes.

Harry's and Tess's poems seem similar in that they both have a real stream-of-consciousness feel. Harry's tone feels more funny and irreverent (even jazzy!) and Tess's more wistful to me.

I love the way bronz uses enjambment. It gives his poem a really nice flow. I'm dying to change the line breaks though to make the rhyming softer. It's really lovely writing.

I am thrilled to see Mr. Dreamer posting as I've read and loved so many of his poems here over the years. Love how his poem suddenly moves in a different direction in the last two lines. It works so well.

And Cinner I don't know you (I don't think), but your poem is lovely and you are the only one who made the B-movie connection thus far. That line in your poem conjures the creature from the black lagoon and all those old movies. And you did it in one line!

Like I said hard to pick a fave.

 

[CharleyH]

In shallow pools,
low tide exposed,
on rocks in gardens
seaweed sowed lurk
molluscs
often overlooked
for speedier folk like
shrimp or crab
escaping sideways,
weapon ready just in case.
Clustered tiny mussel-squatters
shouldering on an empty shell
that suddenly declares another lodger
scrambling, claws first, into view.
Whelks and winkles, clammy cousins
bearing very different armour,
bustle slowly barnacle-bound.
A nano-ocean, crèche for young,
exposed and seeking safety.
Wade warily, don't mess with the
molluscs.​

LOVE this:
"Clustered tiny mussel-squatters
shouldering on an empty shell
that suddenly declares another lodger
scrambling, claws first, into view."

 

[CharleyH]

nano-clams and other molluscs

immeasurable, the tidal sweep,
to creatures small as grains of sand
that favour jet-propulsion and
will seed-like secrets safely keep.

what warms an eyeless clam's thin blood?
how beats a tiny shellfish heart?
is love, like food, a filtered art?
a happy clam a clam in mud?

Ming, the arctic bivalve, swam
far longer than his hinged-shell friends;
did his means prolong his ends?
was Ming the king of all his clan?

do other molluscs all aspire
to live and filter? give their pledge?
surviving, walk the razor's edge,
evade the pan, and fear the fire?

scallops, with their many eyes,
discern a distant, filtered sun
yet, still, from fate they cannot run
and timeless seas shall fall, and rise.


*****************************************************************

http://news.nationalgeographic.co.uk/news/2007/10/071029-oldest-clam.html

405 years old, and it died having its rings counted. it was alive when shakespeare was writing. *sigh*

So very sad, Butters.

 

[CharleyH]

Nano-Clams and Other Molluscs

From clam or oyster, cell-sized seedling
First drifts to silt on ocean's floor
And there it burrows, needful, needling
Betwixt some rocks. It leaves no spoor
For predators who might be lunching,
And grows a shell to escape crunching
By random sea star or clawed crab,
The both of which would love to grab
Our little bivalve, who's quite meaty
(And tasty too!) and make an end
Of our shy, mild molluscan friend.
'Twould be a pity—he's a sweetie—
But if these shellfish have to die,
They're best when breaded and deep fried.

Beautiful sonnet. Tzara.

 

[CharleyH]

I just read through all the entries thus far and I am hard-pressed to pick favorites. There are things I love (and some I don't) about each poem (mine included). A few observations that are just my little old opinions so feel free to disagree.

I love that we have a fair representation of form poems. Mine and Tzara's, obviously, but UYS is writing some form I don't recognize (or she is just sticking to a meter from verse to verse). And butters' poem is a little form-like to me as she repeats questions across strophes.

Harry's and Tess's poems seem similar in that they both have a real stream-of-consciousness feel. Harry's tone feels more funny and irreverent (even jazzy!) and Tess's more wistful to me.

I love the way bronz uses enjambment. It gives his poem a really nice flow. I'm dying to change the line breaks though to make the rhyming softer. It's really lovely writing.

I am thrilled to see Mr. Dreamer posting as I've read and loved so many of his poems here over the years. Love how his poem suddenly moves in a different direction in the last two lines. It works so well.

And Cinner I don't know you (I don't think), but your poem is lovely and you are the only one who made the B-movie connection thus far. That line in your poem conjures the creature from the black lagoon and all those old movies. And you did it in one line!

Like I said hard to pick a fave.

I think you all win.

 

[GuiltyPleasure]

The resulting poems are so varied in style and content that for me to choose a fave is impossible. I'm blown away by the effort and results.

 

[GuiltyPleasure]

I think you all win.

What CH said.

hello sugartits!

 

[Angeline]

What CH said.

hello sugartits!

Sugartits thinks we should do a gunfight next.

 

[Cinner]

I just read through all the entries thus far and I am hard-pressed to pick favorites. There are things I love (and some I don't) about each poem (mine included). A few observations that are just my little old opinions so feel free to disagree.

I love that we have a fair representation of form poems. Mine and Tzara's, obviously, but UYS is writing some form I don't recognize (or she is just sticking to a meter from verse to verse). And butters' poem is a little form-like to me as she repeats questions across strophes.

Harry's and Tess's poems seem similar in that they both have a real stream-of-consciousness feel. Harry's tone feels more funny and irreverent (even jazzy!) and Tess's more wistful to me.

I love the way bronz uses enjambment. It gives his poem a really nice flow. I'm dying to change the line breaks though to make the rhyming softer. It's really lovely writing.

I am thrilled to see Mr. Dreamer posting as I've read and loved so many of his poems here over the years. Love how his poem suddenly moves in a different direction in the last two lines. It works so well.

And Cinner I don't know you (I don't think), but your poem is lovely and you are the only one who made the B-movie connection thus far. That line in your poem conjures the creature from the black lagoon and all those old movies. And you did it in one line!

Like I said hard to pick a fave.

Thank you for your kind notice. I'm not well known on the site at all, and I spend most of my time on The Playground when I do come here. I logged in and saw that Harry Hill had posted something here and followed him to this thread. I am very glad that I did.

I don't know anything about poetry, but what I am going to do is to read the poems again with your commentary in mind. I'll learn about 'form' this week by the time I'm done. It was through this method that I improved my story writing last year.