h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Just dropped by to tell you I really liked your poem which I've just read in The Post - I thought it was great! Poetry doesn't earn you money (although it can get you drinks bought or related jobs offered)
but it beats the hell out of quite a lot of other things life has to offer. Well, sometimes. Occaisionally. Well, at least once a week. Honest. Anyway, I really enjoyed it.

Thanks for the kind words. I didn't know poetry could get me free drinks - I must associate with the wrong types of people...

Hi quiz!

I notice that my name appears on the 'hot weather' piece. I don't consider my contribution to the article so vital that I should be listed as 'the' writer/researcher. It seem unfair to you. I tried to remove my name, but it would not let me. Perhaps you can do that before it might be accepted and unchangeable?

I left this message here because, as I came to leave it, I decided to check out your poetry again. Forgive me if this is a repetition, or if you have already told me that you are unconcerned, but I wonder if you realize that many of your Haiku do not fit the haiku form?

If you just enjoy writing them and do not care whether they technically qualify, I certainly would not tell you to change; but, if you are interested in the form, perhaps you would want to check out the proper pattern which is 5-7-5 foot lines.

Like sonatas, limericks, and various other forms of poetry, the pattern is pretty rigid. Perhaps you just choose to go your own way.

You could check out this as a representative site that explains it better than I could.

http://216.239.37.104/search?q=cache:69L2n0z7oU4J:www.primaryresources.co.uk/english/pdfs/HaikuB.pdf+Haiku+Pattern&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

EXAMPLES:
A summer mountain – (5)
The air is warm and fragrant (7)
Why do you wear snow?(5)

Darkness falls again
Lights illuminate the night
Guiding us safely

Yours could certainly be made to match the official pattern, if that is your preference. As a for-instance:

Under the sofa
dust bunnies and jelly beans.
It's time to clean house

Again, I apologize if we have already discussed this, no offense intended.

Howdy-do!

I noticed that you no longer appeared as a researcher on the Hot Weather article - I assumed you had removed yourself (or else my evil twin has been messing around with my work). The article is on its way to the editing process even as I write.

I hope you survived the Great Blackout without too much trouble.

Re: haiku, there is something called the English Haiku - it preserves the form, more or less, but is less strict about syllable count because English isn't a syllabic language. This is what I write. I prefer to have the line breaks occur 'naturally' rather than maintain the strict 5-7-5 syllable count (although your rewrite of the dust bunnies haiku does both).

I'm always battling with form in poetry. I generally don't like rhymed poetry - my mind tends to trip over the rhymes unless the poet is very skillful (Robert Frost, for example) - and so much of it seems forced. I did write an unrhymed sonnet (is there such a thing?): http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/brunel/A1132831.

Yes, I tend to go my own way. But no offense taken.

Cheers!
quizzical (The Rebel)

Whew! Glad that the structure thing wasn't a touchy subject!

There's nuthing rong with being a rebel.

One of my favorite authors, Isaac Asimov, found that the challenge in writing limericks was sticking to the form; but he was a mathmetician and scientist.

The Great Blackout was almost fun, as adventures go; but could have ended a few hours earlier and it wouldn't have bothered me.

We were out just under 25 hours. Plenty of neighbors had generators going; but we have a gas stove for cooking and boiling, and always filter our water anyway. Our solar lawn lights were brought in at night for guiding our movements in the dark. The entertainment took the biggest hit; instead of cable and wide-band connections, we had a 9-volt AM/FM radio for our connection to the outside world.

I actually got some woodwork done on our front porch. The day off from work was put to use. Not much to do there without computers.

How was your's?

Actually, the blackout didn't reach this far south - I'm not unhappy about that. During the blackout the volume of spam mail went way down, which is interesting. And my ISP (MSN) has gotten very reliable since then; prior to the blackout I had trouble with slow and dropped connections, but afterwards everything's been working like a champ. Weird.

I'm always concerned about a power outage in winter, so I've been restocking our Y2K emergency kit. We drink filtered water here, too, and we have a woodstove, a supply of firewood, and passive solar lights on the deck that can be brought indoors if necessary. I noticed that the local Home Depot is now advertising generators in addition to duct tape and plastic sheeting. We're turning into a nation of survivalists...

Re: Isaac Asimov, I wonder if the mathematician's mindset makes writing formal poetry more difficult. You'd think not, since these guys are used to structure and rules, but... I'm a mathematician myself, so maybe there's something to this. (Actually, I think we're just Independent Souls.)

quiz