JUN (2021), submitted palindromes #18

 

MAGICAL PALINDROMES: a compendium, part A

 

The magical palindrome, an astounding entity developed from palindromic wordplay, was described earlier in a post HERE.

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As of December 2024, there are 1800 unique entries available on the daily blog, displaying individual poems (often illustrated) and wordplay, but also with some photo-collages and parody song-lyrics. Most of their key elements are also presented here on "Edifying Nonsense" in topic-based collections, such as this one. The "Daily" format also has the advantage of including some song-lyrics, videos and other material that are not shown here on this topic-based blog.

Poetic NON-SEQUITURS #1

CURRENT CONTENTS:
Almost kosher

Bush plane

Charity auction

Close quarters

Cumulative songs

Demolition

Dishwasher

Doggy bag

(for continuation, see the link below)

                                                  

Authors' Note: 

 Claustrophobe and its variants, claustrophobic and claustrophobia have been defined in other verses at OEDILF.   

 Authors' Note:  The cumulative song "I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly" was created by two Canadian folksong aficionados in 1952, and then recorded by Burl Ives in 1953.  Other well-known cumulative songs which are traditional include "Old MacDonald had a Farm" and "The Green Grass Grew All Around".

Authors' Note: Contractors will describe the first phase of your tired old home's renovation as demolition, forgetting that, to the sensitive older homeowner, that term may conjure up visions of damage caused by aerial bombing, earthquakes or cyclones. In fact, I now have photos showing that the removal of half-century old linoleum tiles, popcorn ceilings and built-in cabinets may require almost that much destruction. We give thanks for the invention of the dumpster, and hope that things will look better in the next phase.

slow uptake of the residential dishwasher
(photos per televised documentary)

inside a current residential dishwasher

 storage place for dirty dishes
(photo by G.C.)

a brand new dishwasher
(photo by G.C.)

This collection is arranged pretty much alphabetically. If you want to see its second instalment, click HERE.

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To resume daily titillations on our related blog 'Daily Illustrated Nonsense', click HERE. Once you arrive, you can select your time frame of interest from the calendar-based listings in the righthand margin, and check the daily offerings for any month in the years 2020 to the present. (As of September 2023, there are over 1200 unique entries available on the Daily blog, and most of these are also presented here on 'Edifying Nonsense' in topic-based collections.) The 'Daily' format also has the advantage of including some videos and other material that are not shown here on this topic-based blog.

Rumination, reminiscence and ruination: STD-POETRY

CURRENT CONTENTS:
STDs (sexually transmitted diseases)
Weighing anchor
Latent syphilis 
Tabes dorsalis (tertiary syphilis)
GPI (general paresis of the insane)
Gon-dom / condoms
Monkeypox

Authors' Note: 

weigh anchor: opposite of 'drop anchor', a naval expression for the last step taken in preparation before the ship leaves port 

The symptoms of primary syphilis most often involve genital skin lesions, or chancres, that appear an average of three weeks after contracting the disease, caused by Gram-negative bacteria in the spiroch(a)ete family. Some patients, however, will remain without symptoms until the later stages of the disease develop insidiously. 

Authors' Note:  VDRL (initialism for venereal disease research laboratory): a screening blood test for syphilis developed in 1906 and updated in 1946

   Syphilis is sometimes referred to medically as lues, accounting for the choice of name for our protagonist.

   This verse, dealing with the asymptomatic latent stage, follows the author’s verse ‘chancre’, a manifestation of the early (‘primary’) stage. Treatment with penicillin at either of these stages is dramatically effective at preventing the dire consequences of progression to symptomatic late (‘tertiary’) disease.

Authors' Note: 

CNS: central nervous system, i.e. the brain and spinal cord; a commonly used medical initialism

spirochete(n.): a generalization for a bacterium of the type that causes syphilis (Treponema pallidum), based on its microscopic appearance

spirochete(v.): novel use confined to this verse, implying damage by syphilitic spirochetes

  The above verse, dealing with the late or ('tertiary') manifestations of syphilis (a.k.a. lues), emphasizes the common disorders of the CNS, including tabes dorsalis, a disease of the spinal cord producing sensory limitations in the legs, compensated by a characteristic (tabetic) stomping gait. Accompanying brain disorders may include general paresis (weakness), mania, delirium and dementia; and manifestations in other organ systems are not uncommon.

Authors' Note:  General paresis of the insane, known by the initialism GPI, was recognized as a distinct disease in 1822, and considered by the Victorians to be a form of madness in persons, primarily men, of dissolute character. It took another century until it was confirmed that it was caused by spirochetes, causative organism for syphilis, damaging the brain in the late (tertiary) stage, and that its progression could be halted by antibiotics such as anti-malarial arsenicals and, after 1940, penicillin. Once a relatively common problem on a global scale, GPI now seems to be confined to developing countries.

   This verse also relates to a series on organic causes of neuropsychiatric symptoms, such as hypothyroid depression, and frontal meningioma.

Authors' Note: These lyrics are intended to be sung in rap format.

Life-threatening medical aspects of the often-discounted STD (sexually transmitted disease) gonorrhea are well described in the Author's Note to SheilaB’s verse ‘Chaldaea’. 

  Gonorrheal infection of the external genitalia, caused by the bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae, may also result in pelvic inflammatory disease in females, epididymitis in males, and chronic infertility. Transmission of the disease is prevented by condoms.

Authors' Note:   In June 2022, the World Health Organization announced that

it would find a new name for 'monkeypox', to de-emphasize its overstated enzootic connection.   

Here's a LIST OF LINKS to collections of intriguing poems (over 200 of these!) on medical/dental topics, updated to December 2024. 

GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR WEB-EXPLORERS: 

To resume the sequence of daily titillations on our related blog "Daily Illustrated Nonsense", click HERE. Once you arrive, you can select your time frame of interest from the calendar-based listings at the bottom of the page, and check the daily offerings for any month from the start of 2020 until December 2024. 

As of December 2024, there are 1800 unique entries available on the daily blog, displaying individual poems (often illustrated) and wordplay, but also with some photo-collages and parody song-lyrics. Most of their key elements are also presented here on "Edifying Nonsense" in topic-based collections, such as this one. The "Daily" format also has the advantage of including some song-lyrics, videos and other material that are not shown here on this topic-based blog.

American Satire: A TERM OF ENDIREMENT #2

This post provides a follow-up to 

"AMERICAN SATIRE (A Term of Endirement) #1"(Note that this first collection of poems gives helpful suggestions on how to SING these intriguing verses.)  

prior posted poems (#1)

make-believe 2016 (convention)

Vladimir's hope

anagrams (D-O-N-A-L-D etc.)

Hillary pilloried

impulse control

laying blame

borscht

Humpty-Dumpty (nursery rhyme)

CURRENT CONTENTS:

Bilateral anagrams

Disingenuous Don

Intelligence

Revision of NAFTA

Covfefe

Pardoning 'Sheriff Joe'

Sharpie-gate

'The Mooch'

for continuation, see the link below 

Author's Note: Rex Tillerson, formerly a petroleum-industry executive, served for just over a year as Secretary of State under the contentious 45th president. Tillerson disagreed with his chief on a number of issues, the press reporting that Tillerson had referred to his boss as a "moron". Although this report was denied, Tillerson was publicly challenged by his leader to an IQ contest, and then was summarily fired in March 2018.

Authors' Note:  In the midst of the Trump-Russia investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller in February 2018, Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee issued the 'Nunes Memo', a four-page document that alleged that the FBI had conspired against President Donald Trump.

Nunes has proceeded in the same vein in his later career, organizing the Republican Party’s role in the politically-charged 2019 House of Representatives Judiciary Committee’s impeachment hearings, as the Ranking Minority Member. 

Author's Note: NAFTA is the acronym for the North American Free Trade Agreement, a pact formed by the U.S., Canada and Mexico in 1994. The trilateral pact has been the target of invective, and the subject of renegotiations by the Republican administration in 2017 to 2019.

Authors' Note:   “Sheriff Joe" Arpaio, a former official of Maricopa County, Arizona, had a long flamboyant career characterized by legal actions against colleagues, heavy-handed treatment of suspects and prisoners, and allegations of massive misuse of funds. The ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) eventually brought suit against him for civil rights violations, and after refusing to comply, he was finally convicted of contempt of court.

 As an octogenarian, Arpaio had become a political friend and outspoken advocate of Donald Trump, who pardoned his criminal offence in August 2017, prior to the imposition of a sentence.

 

 

FOLLOW-UP

Owing to intense demand for more verses of this type, we have worked hard to accommodate your wishes; in fact there are now four such collections! So, you can view another collection of these philosophically-charged limericks by clicking this link ! 

GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR WEB-EXPLORERS: 

To resume the sequence of daily titillations on our related blog "Daily Illustrated Nonsense", click HERE. Once you arrive, you can select your time frame of interest from the calendar-based listings at the bottom of the page, and check the daily offerings for any month from the start of 2020 until December 2024. 

As of December 2024, there are 1800 unique entries available on the daily blog, displaying individual poems (often illustrated) and wordplay, but also with some photo-collages and parody song-lyrics. Most of their key elements are also presented here on "Edifying Nonsense" in topic-based collections, such as this one. The "Daily" format also has the advantage of including some song-lyrics, videos and other material that are not shown here on this topic-based blog.