Versification. How is versification like cooking?

Blending sound & color, the result can be tasted.


When is a meal complete? When the proper balance of ripe, simple, color, savory achieved. And company to accommodate. Let's toast.

Plurisignation. Can there be but one meaning to a poem?

What do words love more than to mean? To live by meaning. And to multiply.



Leftovers mean much & many things differently (all tongues being different as signature and snowflake). How they multiply a meal.

Pleonasm. How do you identify excessive words in a poem?

Perhaps, the smile was on the face of the poet while she edited the words. Words, of course, are not restricted to the page -- excessive though they may be. In particular, airborne words are cited as carriers of the excessive gene. Often. Frequently.

Can silence in a poem be considered as pleonasm?


In cooking, cream & butter & creme fraiche can be dabbling in pleonasm. Perhaps, too much of a good thing. Isn't.

Sigmatism. How many sibilances are too many in a poem?

Seriously, can this be quantified, per line? Is it to be determined by the mouth of the poem; the ear of the hearer? And if too many be so, what is the outcome?



Can a dish contain too many heirloom tomatoes? Of course, at their peak of ripe.

Virelay? Do any poets writing in virelay come to mind?

No. Not even in French.


Sounds like a sophisticated sauce for fish. Requiring attention in its preparation. A tad of cream. Most likely appointed with fresh tarragon.

Epodic. What can be assumed from a poet who writes in an epodic style?

Takes the middle road? Playing safe with rhythm? Or perhaps, indecisive? Wants it all?


When the cook makes a salad by slicing the radishes lengthwise and chopping the Persian cucumbers in small bites, is she preparing food with epodic flare?


Breakfast salad (fashioned in an epodic manner)

Persian cucumbers
largish radishes
honey tangerines
blue cheese
almonds
pepper
olive oil
fresh herb of choice


An aside: if you have long legs, will your stride reflect such? If you be a poet with long legs, will you avoid writing short lines?

Rhapsode. Does each poem long for a rhapsode?

If a poem is not vocalized, is it a poem in the full measure?


If a meal is not consumed (perhaps, only photographed) has it lived up to it's full measure? If the picnic had gone uneaten?

smoked salmon w/roasted asparagus & honey mangoes & avocado
pita & tahini & hummus & tomatoes & carrots
roasted Brussels Sprouts
Persian cucumbers, radishes (unfortunately, the olives left on the counter)


Now, think of a publisher as one who rhapsodes? And perhaps, she cooks, too?