Poems about POSTAL PLACES: USA

DISCLOSURE: Our aim here is to tell a story in brief verse about a town in every state of the USA, using its name and two-letter state-postal-abbreviation, as would be used in addressing a letter. Obviously, we still have a very long way to go.

What is the origin of this project? 

                                              

In a much earlier effort, we concocted various anagram swarms, armadas of anagrams of various political buzzwords, e.g. C-O-N-S-T-I-T-U-T-I-O-N)  displayed on wordplay maps of the US. The display and readability of these maps was eased by omitting the standardized comma that separates the town and state, i.e. Total Suction, IN == > Total Suction IN. Some readers expressed concern about this shortcut, fearing that we were involved in an insurrection against the international postal standard. Hence we later adopted a scheme for a rigidly defined limerick, as shown in the examples below, that could be used to versify various postal entities (real and imaginary) while highlighting and honoring the standard postal format.  

As this project got started, we decided that we should also include Canada (so stay tuned to check our first Canadian efforts that will be available shortly).

CURRENT CONTENTS

Baton Rouge, LA

Champaign, IL
Hoboken, NJ
Fargo, ND
Duluth, MN
Green Bay, WI

more to follow

Authors' Note: 

LA is the official abbreviation for the American state of Louisiana, whose capital, Baton Rouge, with population 230,000, is situated 100 miles (160km) upriver from New Orleans.

The original site, protected from flooding by its situation on bluffs along the east side of the Mississippi, had originally been noted by exploring Europeans for a pole marking the dividing-line between two aboriginal territories. It was designated as the state capital in 1846, replacing New Orleans in that role, and with extension, its port became the tenth busiest in the US. The city hosts the flagship campuses of Louisiana State university and Southern University.

In recent decades, the Republican party acquired a strangle-hold on almost all local, state, and federal officials elected in Louisiana. Although Louisiana is otherwise agreed as being one of the locales on the planet most affected by climate change, coastal erosion and other negative results of human activity, resistance to that realization seems strongly entrenched locally.

Authors' Note: 

Chicagoan: resident of Chicago, IL

urbane: sophisticated, elegant, worldly

No banana!: slang for 'not prize-winning'

No pain, no gain: slang phrase indicating hard work as a requirement for advancement.

IL is the official abbreviation for the American state of Illinois, in which two neighboring towns, Champaign, population 88,000 and Urbana, population 38,000, make up the metropolitan area of Champaign-Urbana, located 135 miles (215 km) south of the megalopolis of Chicago. The names of both towns, dating from the nineteenth century, relate to earlier settlements in the nearby state of Ohio.

Champaign-Urbana, IL is home to the flagship campus of the University of Illinois, and offers an appropriate spectrum of cultural opportunities. Surrounded by an extensive, flat, mid-west farming district, it is on occasion, as here, disparaged by residents of Chicago for its lack of "urbanity".

   

Authors' Note: MN is the official abbreviation for the American state of Minnesota, in which Duluth, a town with population 90,000 is situated. At the western end of lake Superior, the town was transiently, at the beginning of the 1900s, the busiest port in the United States.

The town's unusual name derives from the area's first known European explorer, the French soldier Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut. Duluth is now home to the annual "Magic Smelt Parade" and the University of Minnesota Duluth. Despite the region's French connection, the largest immigrant group in Minnesota has hailed from Scandinavia, accounting for the Swedish name of the verse's protagonist.

"Telephone-booth stuffing" was a short-lived global craze among college-age kids in the 1950s. Of interest, in the UK the activity was known as "telephone-booth squash", and the "rules" required that a phone-call be made from the overcrowded booth.

Authors' Note: ND is the official abbreviation for the American state of North Dakota, whose largest city is Fargo with a population of 126,000. Located on the floodplain of the Red River, the city was named after William Fargo, director of the Northern Pacific Railway and honcho of Wells Fargo Express.

Authors' Note: WI is the official abbreviation for the American state of Wisconsin, in which the city of Green Bay, population 110,000, is situated. Founded in 1634 as a French trading post, this settlement on the northern part of Lake Michigan was known in its earlier days as La Baie Verte. Today it is best known as the home of the football team "Green Bay Packers"; activities of the city's priesthood are described in Chuck Folkers' poem Holy Communion.

Authors' Note:  NJ is the official abbreviation for the American state of New Jersey, in which Hoboken, a town with population of about 60,000, is situated, commuting distance from New York City.

The town was first settled by Europeans in the 17th century as part of the New Netherland colony. Following the Dutch era, it became known as the site of the first recorded game of baseball, and as the birthplace (1915) and hometown of Frank Sinatra. 

FOLLOW-UP (Canadian, eh?)

You can sneak a peak at our efforts in Canada by clicking HERE!

DIRECTION FOR WEB-TRAVELLERS: 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 has the advantage of including some videos and other material that are not shown here on this topic-based blog.

Submitted Palindromes: RANDOM PILES 40

GREETINGS, WORDPLAY ENTHUSIASTS !!!

  

You have reached the "Submitted Palindromes" thread on the blog "Edifying Nonsense", a light literary entity that emanates through the blogosphere 5 times per month.

  On the 25th of each month you can find a slide-filling group of palindromic phrases submitted to the editors by a panel of 7 palindromists. These folks have all been working on this project since January 2020. Their profiles are indicated in panels published here at the start of things, and periodically (about every eight 'issues'), we ask them to provide, palindromically, of course, their views on one of the iconic items in the classic literature, starting with "A man, a plan, a canal -- Panama", and continuing with other well-known phrases, such as "Dennis sinned". Otherwise, their contribution are grouped in random piles (a phrase that you might recognize as an anagram of the word p-a-l-i-n-d-r-o-m-e-s). Contribution by others, such as you, will likely be published, although we are still awaiting a trickle of requests.

  You can find these back-and-forth enlightenments, as well as a lot of other stuff that appeals to word-nerds, in the contents listed by date in the right-hand column of the blog-page. By the way, the twentieth of each month is devoted to a major article on wordplay, and the posts on the 5th, 10th and 15th to collections of terse and mirthful verse (limericks and "limerrhoids"), that are often targeted at wordplay.

HAVE FUN! 

   As a web-traveler, you might have landed here while roaming from a starting point on the blog "Daily Illustrated Nonsense" (a repository of verse, parody-song-lyrics and related photos, as well as wordplay). If you wish to return, click the link.  

American wordplay map with versification: D-E-P-L-O-R-A-B-L-E-S

Regrettable terminology related to the run-up to the contentious 2016 US presidential election: 

 

DEFINING OPINIONS, fifth octet

 

previous poetic posts (see previous posts for the complete story..)

(fourth octet)

hoot

hop

hopeful

hormones

hors d'oeuvres

hose

hostile

hot

CURRENT CONTENTS (fifth octet, WIP):

Hourly

Housewife

Hover

Endoparasites

more to follow

Authors' Note:   As the hour is one of the most commonly used measure of time, fitting well with the time-frame of daily human activities, it is used more often in a general than in a scientific or precise sense. Examples of this usage include the appointed hour and happy hour. The derived adverb hourly shares this attribute.

Authors' Note:   The term parasite derives via Latin from an old Greek term meaning "one who dines at another's table". To clarify more fully Lyle's terse explanation in the verse, endoparasites, taking up residence inside their host, get their nutrients by passive absorption or by burrowing in the tissues of their host, which could be you! There are very few cases where they spontaneously leave to go to another restaurant. Fortunately, effective treatments have been developed for many of these types of infestation.

DIRECTION FOR WEB-TRAVELLERS: 

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 has the advantage of including Giorgio's photo-collages, song-lyrics and other material that are not shown here on this topic-based blog.

other possibilities include homily, hominy, homonym, hot-headed, hot-blooded, holistic, hookworm

POEMS about POSTAL PLACES: CANADA

 DISCLOSURE: This effort got started a short time ago, when we resolved that we should write a brief verse about a town in every state in the USA. Shortly after the project's inception, we decided that we would extend the purview simultaneously to include the provinces and territories of Canada. The Canadian inception, with seven fun-packed verses, is presented here. (Click THIS LINK if you want to see how the American branch of the project is going.)

CURRENT CONTENTS:

Antigonish, NS

Deseronto, ON

Goose Bay (and Gander), NL

Grande Prairie, AB

La Tuque, QC

Red Deer, AB

Whistler, BC 

more to follow                   

Authors' Note: NS is the official abbreviation for the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, in which the town of Antigonish, population 4,700, is located on the shore of Northumberland Strait, a source of excellent local seafood.

Based on an aboriginal Mi'kmak name, the town was founded in 1784 by a land grant from the British crown. It is now the home of the annual Antigonish Highland Games, and of Sir Francis Xavier University, highly reputed on a national level for undergraduate teaching.

Authors' Note: ON is the official abbreviation for the Canadian province of Ontario, in which the village of Deseronto, population 1800, is situated 5 km (3 miles) south of Highway 401, a limited-access four-lane main route that leads from Toronto to Montreal.

Captain John Deseronto, a native Mohawk, fought in the British Military Forces during the American Revolutionary War. Until 1848, "Deseronto", a site along the northern shore of Lake Ontario, served as an indigenous reserve.

Incidentally, although many characters in American western movies said "Let's vamoose!", the Lone Ranger was better known for voicing, "Hi Yo Silver, away."

 Authors' Note: NL is the official abbreviation for the Canadian province comprised of the Atlantic island of Newfoundland, and Labrador — the sparsely populated section of mainland Canada that borders the Atlantic Ocean to its north.

Gander, population 12,000, located on the island north of the capital of St John's, had been founded in the 1930s as a refuelling stop for the expanding number of commercial transatlantic flights. It recently became famous as the recipient town for diverted passenger aircraft during the 9/11 debacle.

The town of Goose Bay, population 8,000, now administratively known as Happy Valley - Goose Bay, is the largest settlement in the icy northern portion of the province. Founded in 1941, it was selected for its potential as a military airbase, and served that function throughout World War Two.

A terse story about "dangerous": A recent novice visitor from France, flying overnight to Toronto, sleepily noted the key towns on the plane's route-map, and wondered why "Danger" was prominently displayed near the country's east coast.

Authors' Note: The above verse combines three disparate plot-elements: limericks about bar jokes, our verses on North America's postal places, and the approach of Hallowe'en.

If you want to know more about the Canadian province of Alberta, consult our verse on Red Deer, AB, or ask speedysnail, author of the OEDILFian poem Alberta.

Authors' Note:  QC is the official abbreviation for the Canadian province of Quebec, in which La Tuque, population 11,000, is situated beside the St-Maurice River, 170 km (105 miles) north of the Saint Lawrence. The town's iconically shaped low mountain, resulting in its name (Fr. tuque is a soft wool hat), was partly destroyed in construction of a hydro-electric installation 80 years ago.

In each of the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario, administrative rearrangements resulted in a handful of "cities" and "regional municipalities" with extensive areas that had low population densities, contrary to the usual expectation for urban centres. In this regard La Tuque heads up the pack, its central town surrounded by a vast forested area of 28,000 km² giving it a population density of 0.4/km², compared to Montreal, QC, and Quebec City, QC, with densities of 2,700 and 1,600/km² respectively.

Authors' Note: AB is the official abbreviation for the Canadian province of Alberta, in which the city of Red Deer, population 100,000, is located mid-way between the province's two main cities of Calgary and Edmonton.

Prior to the arrival of European settlers, aboriginals had called a local stream "Elk River". European settlers renamed it as "Red Deer River" after the more familiar Eurasian species, and founded a village there in 1894, at a river crossing used by Fort Normandeau, a stockade stronghold in the Northwest Rebellion of 1885. The town of Red Deer expanded dramatically during the 1940s owing to the discovery of major Albertan oil and natural gas reserves.

Authors' Note: BC is the official abbreviation for the Canadian province of British Columbia in which the resort-municipality of Whistler, permanent population 14,000, is located. Two million tourists visit Whistler annually for winter alpine sports, and for the summer pastimes of hiking and mountain biking.

Prior to European settlement, the site was the shared territory of the Squamish and Lil'wat First Nations. Trappers and prospectors were gradually attracted, but completion of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway in 1914 provided easy access from Vancouver, and brought logging and escalating tourism. The resort-city is named for the call of the hoary marmot, a ground squirrel dwelling at high elevations. The Whistler-Blackcomb area served as a major venue for "Vancouver 2010", the twenty-first Olympic Winter Games.

You can read more about the hoary marmot in another of our verses by clicking HERE.

DIRECTION FOR WEB-TRAVELLERS:

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 has the advantage of including Giorgio's photo-collages, song-lyrics, some videos and other material that are not shown here on this topic-based blog.

Still More Collected "LIMERRHOIDS" (oversized limericks with C-rhyme extensions)

 The contentious concept of extending limerick verses by adding a pair of C-line rhymes (and occasionally even D-line rhymes) to the standard A- and B-line rhymes was introduced by the prophetic work of Irish limericist Seamus O'Malley, as discussed in a blogpost HERE. 

  To assist readers' further understanding of this issue, the extension results in an elegant non-standard 7-line verse, which we have called a "LIMERRHOID". One should take care, however, as not all 7-line limericks are the result of applying O'Malley's modification. Care must be taken not to confuse this process with the less rigorous addition of extra A- or B-rhyme lines, that result in a "Run-On Limerick".

  In a follow-up post, HERE, we displayed our earlier work on the limerrhoid as disciples of O'Malley. Much to our surprise, we have prevailed over skeptical critics and editors at the collaborative website OEDILF (Omnificent English Dictionary in Limerick Form), with  completion of their rigorous editing process, and online publication of most of the limerrhoids in this earlier opus. 

  In the current post, we are displaying some of our more recent work on limerrhoids on a variety of topics. For the most part , these have not yet (February 2024) completed the process of rigorous multi-editor review at OEDILF, but we will note below as developments occur.   

final approval for poetry publication at the OEDILF collaborative writing site:

Feb 2024 (at time of compilation): 

                 Zeus see Suez  (classic palindrome)

                 malignant tumors (oncologic verse)

Mar 2024:  distant (urban issues)

                  anachronistically (creative anachronisms)

                  collective (pandemic)

                  history (creative anachronism)

May 2024:  hoggishly (poetic non-sequitur)

Verses in this collection can also be viewed in larger format, with their relevant "authors' notes" and oftentimes further photographic elaboration on our companion blogpost "Daily Illustrated Nonsense".

DIRECTION FOR WEB-TRAVELLERS: 

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 song-lyrics, videos and other material that are not shown here on this topic-based blog.