Admin Post: The Poetry Page: Social Distancing with Mrs. Hudson

[scfrankles]

Welcome, everyone!

This month we will be attempting a mini-bummel and going to the local church hall to hear a talk. The talker is the estimable Arthur Gay Payne and he will be telling us about The Art of Cooking an Omelette! I believe the contents of his talk first appeared in Cassell's Family Magazine, in 1883.

I hope the talk will improve your culinary skills and also whet your appetite—both for the supper on our return and for creating poetry!



As added inspiration here is a quotation from Dr. Watson’s story, “A Story in Scarlet”:


“What ineffable twaddle!” I cried, slapping the magazine down on the table, “I never read such rubbish in my life.”

“What is it?” asked Sherlock Holmes.

“Why, this article,” I said, pointing at it with my egg spoon as I sat down to my breakfast.

(The good doctor is of course not referring to Mr. Payne’s work. The ineffable twaddle was written by Mr. Holmes.)



Here as usual is the list of poetry forms:

221B verselet, abecedarian poetry, acrostic poetry, alexandrine, ballad, barzelletta, beeswing, blackout poetry, blitz poem, blues stanza, bref double, Burns stanza, call and response, chastushka, cherita, cinquain, circular poetry, clerihew, clogyrnach, colour poems, compound word verse, concrete poetry, Cornish verse, curtal sonnet, débat, décima, descort, diamante, doggerel, double dactyl, echo verse, ekphrasis, elegiac couplet, elegiac stanza, elfje, englyn, enuig, epigram, epistle, epitaph, epulaeryu, Etheree, fable, Fib, florette, found poetry, free verse, ghazal, haiku, hay(na)ku, In Memoriam stanza, Italian sonnet, jueju, kennings poem, lanturne, lies, limerick, line messaging, list poem, lyric poetry, mathnawī, micropoetry, mini-monoverse, musette, nonsense verse, palindrome poetry, pantoum, Parallelismus Membrorum, poem cycle, puente, quatern, quintilla, renga, rhyming alliterisen, riddle, rimas dissolutas, rime couée, rispetto, Schüttelreim, sedoka, septet, sestina, shadorma, sonnet, stream of consciousness, tanka, tercet, terza rima, tongue twister poetry, triangular triplet, tricube, trine, triolet, Tyburn, villanelle, xenolith


And so, if you will put on your masks and remember to continue to social distance from the other members of the audience…? Excellent. Let us go and learn about omelettes!

Comments

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

I feel there must be a line about 'having to break a lot of eggs to make an omlette' in the offing. Good prompt.

[scfrankles]

I'm very late in replying, but thank you ^_^

[smallhobbit]

I held the shovel over the omelette
I had made sure that it was red hot
But very soon Mrs F began to fret
She'd spotted an ominous spot

The spots increased and the air turned blue
For the pattern was rather wavy
But then we knew what we could do
We'd cover it with gravy

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Oh dear. Gravy covers a multitude of things.

[smallhobbit]

Yes - probably as well.

[scfrankles]

Very amusing ^__^

[smallhobbit]

Thank you :)

Omlette [Pindaric Ode]

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

that most elusive thing, a well-cooked omlette
the cause of paucity, a well-kept secret
that toothsome dish, much sought but rarely found
at any table-trough of London-town
the key is (lest truth be denied again)
a dedicated pan to fry it in
as often seen as unicorn spire or leg,
that kitchen skillet which has only known egg
nevertheless, the best an egg can offer
must be prepped in cook-slab appointed proper

consider this counter claim, a good omlette
begs a fair chatelain of keys, no secret,
just goodness wherever it may be found
in kitchens in and about London-town
good eggs, good butter are assured when
one knows the happy cow, contented hen
chopped sprig of parsley, green leaf, not stale dreg,
or pinch of sweet herb to season fresh egg
a good stove, too, giving heat, sharp and copper
some countless chicks counted ere hatched eggs proper

unspoiled pan, freshest bits, all make good omlette
but known address was, heretofore, kept secret
in Soho, follow scent of onions brown
and listen close for dominoes patter-pound
there, hot plates wait, not long, at bone piles’ end,
devoured with due speed, large appetites bend
from skill, receipt, and best larder may proffer
come yolk-and-white delight, done right and proper

Re: Omlette [Pindaric Ode]

[debriswoman]

This is really well done…you managed to keep to the formal tone and pattern, with quite a mundane subject, really well:-)

Re: Omlette [Pindaric Ode]

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Oh, yay. I am glad you were able strope, antistrophe, and epode (even with it being about an omlette). I have been working on this for months and was happy to finally finish it. I went back to Fry's The Ode Less Travelled and am trying to plug along with various forms. I am on the ode chapter.