Arlene Corwin Poetry

  The Funniest Word: Sesquipedalian: Long-Winded

I just learned the strangest word:
An adjective ne’er seen or heard.
Sesquipedalian.
Sesqui-pedal-ian:
Are we the aliens depicted?
Is it us the word has painted?
Latin for a foot plus half*
Which makes me laugh.
“Polysyllabic or long-winded”.**
If there ever was a winding
Longish ended word, it is sesquipedalian.
You have to laugh
At something that’s a ‘foot plus half’
That uses fourteen signs to say it.
‘Sesquipedalian names, or prose’
God only knows how long is wrong,
And even, what is wrong with ‘long’!
Eighteen inches, fourteen letters.
Something in the letters fetters.

Words are born from situations:
Every nuance. each emotion.
How they come about’s the question.
Are we so observant, we,
Disposed to live linguistically?
I’ve no idea,
But it sure is
Damned funny.

**18 inches or 45.72 centimeters.

The Funniest Word: Sesquipedalian 9.27.2020 A Sense Of The Ridiculous II; Circling Round Experience; Arlene Nover Corwin

sesquipedalian | ˌsɛskwɪpɪˈdeɪlɪən |
adjective formal
(of a word) polysyllabic; long: sesquipedalian surnames.
• characterized by long words; long-winded: the sesquipedalian prose of scientific journals.
ORIGIN
mid 17th century: from Latin sesquipedalis ‘a foot and a half long’, from sesqui- (see sesqui-) + pes, ped- ‘foot’.

Summarizing Something Nice💞

I’m so happy when you ‘get it’;
That you get its subtleness –
The latent and the unexpressed.

Happy that there’s one who takes on board
The theme, the art, both intertwined
In effort’s mind.
Just happy – nothing more
With not a jot of longing for the glory
Or the possibility of money.

As the jazzer makes the song her own,
The notes and chords and lyric one,
The improv, playing, unified,
Theme, technique grown,
Thus, sweat and fuss,
The sugared press of muse and genius,
Poet builds on stuff and nonsense,
Common sense, the mystical, ,
The mundane-psycho-metaphysical-potential endless.
It’s all nice:
Expression giving peace to practice,
Practice peace.
With you the object of release.

Summarizing Something Nice 9.26.2020 The Processes: Creative, Thinking, Meditative II; Vaguely About Music II; Circling Round Experience; Arlene Nover Corwin

       Vanities Again, Again 

I watched a well known TV show.
The guest was nobody I know.
A young girl whose main aim was fame:
Through daily photoed Instagram.
Spending thousands on the shifting sand
Of makeup, bags, clothes, shoes
For “Followers” from each or any land;
Misguided and delusory!
Pathetic and illusory!.
Poor unskilled child!
Convinced that getting ‘Like’ and ‘Followed’
Have some hallowed worth.
As if a button had inherent love.
Self-starved, she struggled with her girth
Yet drank on weekends for her mirth.
Felt gratified when people called her ‘hot’.
Had not a jot of self insight,
Of who she was, should be, should do
To make a contribution to…
She read no books;
Her prime concern brand names and looks.

For happiness of real success,
She must unlearn those false ideas,
Gain insight into fruitlessness
Self-admiration, haughtiness,
For vanity is profitless,
Its origin the Latin vanus/vanitas:
Pointless, useless
‘emptiness’.

Vanities Again, Again 9.24.2020 Circling Round Vanities II; Circling Round Experience; Our Times, Our Culture II; Arlene Nover Corwin

  Only As Old As You Feel, True, Untrue?

Platitudinous and overused,
Imposing truths on types
Receptive to the cliche myths
Of age and youth.

I look inside myself,
That self intrinsic to the child I was
Since my first powers of recall.
The same as when i was a child:
Tendencies, reactions,
Sensitivities and inclinations.

Though I’ve learned,
Values waxed and deepened,
Body aged unhurriedly, steeped
Continually in time.
This is sage:
Do not think in age,
Absorbing adages!
It is not sage.
Life’s stage consists of phases.

You are quantity
Exposed to change
You are quality:
A gene unvarying, enduring;
Altogether darling.

You are you life through.
Not young, not old,
But gold which stays as is
Forever.

Only As Old As You Feel, True, Untrue? 9.21.2020 Circling Round Ageing; Birth, Death & In Between III; Circling Round Wrnkling; Arlene Nover Corwin

  Words To Love: Emoji *

Pictograph of sadness, cheer…
Every feeling, object, there
To show, enhance, inflate, draw near,
Define, make clear –
Oh, those Japanese – so clever!
E, a picture; Moji, character.

And I, mature, articulate,
Controlled, restrained,
Using it and them more often
When the brain’s refrain
Needs just that little extra bit
To sign and supplement
Whatever’s been expressed already
Boosting, heading
Written chunks of art (or junk)..
Emoji: hidden spunk behind it all –
A detail for the people.

Words To Love: Emoji 9.19.2020 The Processes: Creative, Thinking, Meditative II; Circling Round Experience; Arlene Nover Corwin.

• whoever wants to add his or her pwn personal emoji is welcome to do so.

        Rosh Hashanah 

(Jewish New Year celebrating 5781)

To honor Jewish New Year
I put this here:

Year, fifty seven eighty-one.
Five thousand seven hundred
Eighty-one: a time for self-renewal,
Self-reflection.

Self renewal:
Jewel
In a holiday
Which only stays
Two happy days.

A Yiddish standard wish could read;
“Have a good and blessed year!”
In Hebrew one could plead,
“Shanah Tovah!”: “Sweet’ and happy year!”
No fear but sweet good wishes from the heart
For this year’s date
Sealed by good fate.

And so, in blowing the shofar*
I pose the question:
Who could ask for more,
For duties simply put,
Lie there.

*shofar; a ram’s horn used in the Jewish High holidays to awaken the soul.

Rosh Hashanah 9.18.2020 Our Times, Our Culture II; Circling Round Experience; Arlene Nover Corwin

        Mid- Night Nonsense

It’s good to start from nowhere
In particular,
Let it grow,
Intuition’s urging knowing.
The trick is to keep going –
That’s the hard part.

4 a.m. husband asleep,
And like a twelve year old, I creep
Under the quilt.
With minor guilt, pad, pen in hand,
Keyring flashlight, writing,
Fighting hard to stay awake
For art’s sake.

There’s no other explanation,
So amusing is the situation.
There will be continuation –
Or, as Arnold coined,
“I’ll be back”… joined to you
Post breakfast, and as promised.
Not just brain but body too,
Then we’ll see if this needs closure
On exposure to the light.
As for now, goodnight, goodnight!

Mid- Night Nonsense 9.16.2020 Processes: Creative, Thinking, Meditative II; Circling Round Experience; Arlene Nover Corwin

Whenever I can’t think of anything to write, I turn to nature. I’ve done it dozens of times: not an idea and suddenly, then gradually a charming poem comes forth. An idea, then the work; title, words, rhymes, meter, meaning – all meshes and co-relates. The word “orange” is a challenge, believe me.

        Turning Orange

In regions where it’s turning autumn,
Leaves red, yellow.
In our garden, they’re not yellow,
Oddly, loudly, orange yelling.

Old New Yorker I,
Used to multicoloured Falls,
I have fallen for this gaudy and remarkably
High-color, almost supernatural year phase.

In appearance, almost artificial.
What one sees is inspirational,
Which brings to mind,
Springs to mind
(It cannot ‘spring’ because it’s autumn coming soon)
An August moon.

In the meantime, if September
Gives a smooth transition –
Sunny days into October, summer
Melting into autumn:
Foxes foraging, squirrels storage-ing;
Porridge on the stove encouraging;
Summing up for coming winter:
Rhododendron green turned orange.

Turning Orange 9.11.2020 Circling Round Nature II; Arlene Nover Corwin

This is dedicated to people who are not inclined to active training: been sick, are passively inclined or lacking in energy one way or another. It improves and actively affects the concentration, the ability to isolate and activate minutely small body parts.
It is empty mind-fullness, perhaps full minded emptiness in the highest.🧘‍♀️

 Yoga Hidden & Unbidden

She lies in bed.
Unwittingly, she presses head
Against the pillow,
Holding, staying, wholly still;
Neck, then shoulders pressing hard
Until the guard of energy and will says “Shift!”
Then mind and focus shift,
The mind of instinct key and swift.
Pressure finds another joint;
A pressure point, a muscle’s spot
Without a jot of thinking,
With an automatic gentle sinking,
She invents another press,
Not pillow this time but on mattress.
Lifting spine but still supine
She presses gluteus and maximus,
Stays a bit, some one, two minutes,
Then an impulse moves a limb.
Inner elbow, thigh or arm;
Bicep, tricep, calf or knee,
Flexing, pushing, simple moving,
No reasoning but feeling.
Even going round the brain, the eyes, closed lids.
She is surprised at what she spies:
Insight middle of the night,
Fired up, inspired, then tired,
She falls into a worthy sleep:
A final moment
Of accomplishment.

Yoga Hidden & Unbidden 9.12.2020 Circling Round Experience; Circling Round Yoga; Arlene Nover Corwin

I  just came across this, a poem which I had completely forgotten, having rather recently written another poem about beards (as well as tattoos). And even one before that in yet another year.  Gosh!  I guess I must have stronger anti-beard feelings than I am aware of.

Anyway, it’s quite good, so I’m re-presenting it. Comments of all kinds are welcome!😍🙋‍♀️🤩
The Men In Sweden…🤔
The men in Sweden and elsewhere
Are looking older than they are
With whiskers, stubble, facial hair
Of every kind.
Beards, moustaches find their place
On almost every male face
These days.
I’ve bet you’ve never heard
Of pogonophobia. A funny word
That means a fear of beards and beard!
Yes, there are such mental health conditions.
So I ask, why hide the manly jaw or chin.
A chin that’s manly out and in.
I fancy ego based on fear,
Vanity that’s always there.
Affectation, ostentation, airs and show –
All the traits that go along
With fear of judgment and rejection.
Don’t they know it’s all illusion,
And the only thing that matters
Is completion of the heart and mind
That shatters all?
Finding out who, what you are
And working to complete it.
If you’re twenty-one or two,
What can beat it?
If you’ve got a double, triple chin or none,
An open face is wonderfully
To be preferred.
Lose the beard
And keep the face.
You are a much loved member of the race –
The human…
Besides, a naked face is best to kiss!
What person would not favour this?
Shaved and clean is what I mean!
I mean a face that’s smooth and clean.
Dear men, don’t hide
The face inside.
Nature’s pride is there to share
With those who at the moment stare
And wish that there was someone daring ‘nough
To face the world un-twirled, un-curled,
And wholly, perfectly unfurled.
The Men In Sweden 9.8.2018 A Sense Of The Ridiculous II; Circling Round Vanities II; Our Times, Our Culture II; Arlene Nover Corwin