Two Poems
Me'esh P'rem A'atu (1997)
Me'esh p'rem a'atu, carintal
Sho'ermun shrebahta barstamin spekala capado
Hisharaman kantal sifro ha'ana,
Me'eshpet pakaran stilo talan,
Tobal nilit edul intalan to'araiel
Sho ekatanal djaharu chechen ko'er daiken,
Spomebla paharan foor murdic tapil korhemin,
Khefna shilim parharanath malar intalantar,
Ph'tal mekital mektim s'fan,
Mispa charifran codolai crili spomariad
Spal bofan gekatanal-
Wiblon porsphe thalantal?
Ko stam etam foz me'rinoble,
Mespinash sokola splef kiphal k'horan camital,
Klameth shoshun t'li sharan
Tullae b'shila elkang dahar spagana
Kishtalman daouen bespo'in cha cleba acrital
Shefidden skel tarra mispo'ai nebla mispochil
Madag shpetarken fanatalath
Shoshun b'kan lif shodaran skapal k'laiart
Tostilaren spekinon taiba,
Spekitil ha'ancha peltai?
Afamaiel (2000)
Afamaiel, afamaiel, duma'khaiel abromonis,
Kitatikel meniachem ch'porna amakiel tenebra,
B'shonin h'alla'tu calanin djuhornis,
Afamaiel
There are stories behind and associated with these poems... The first was written in 1997 after my girlfriend of the time said somethng in conversation and I asked her what it meant, and it turned out that it was an invented word that she and her sisters used, so I said, "Jabberwocky!", and she didn't know what that meant. After I explained it to her, she challenged me to write a poem using 'nonsense' words in similar fashion. When I first started out, I had one or two per line, but the more I wrestled with the meaning, the more they took over the poem, until invented words were all that was left of it.
When I read the first poem to idyllwild, he thought that it sounded like a banishment or exorcism ceremony, but I disagreed- I "had" to- I already had my backstory/'translation'- and so in response to idyllwild's commetn, I wrote Afamaiel.
I have also read Me'esh P'rem A'atu at slam- the group that hosted sessions for the 1999/2000 season at the local coffeehouse was Hispanic, and invariably one or two people would get on the mic at each session and do something that was entirely in spanish without any kind of translation. ...So, 'long about the 7th or 8th session, I brought along Me'esh... Got decent scores (5s) from the two Hispanic judges that evening, but the Anglo was like, "I... don't know what to make of all that," and gave me a 3.
Reading/Performance Tips: An apostrophe indicates an unvoiced stop approximately equal to a 1/16 rest- it's there, but it's not as long of a pause as there is between individual words. Rs are a combination of the Spanish 'd-d-d' roll and the French back-of-the-throat 'kh'. ai is generally 'eye' rather than 'ay'. I have been told that the overall effect is something like a cross between German and Arabic.
Although there is some similarity in pronunciation between the b'shonin of the third line in Afamaiel and the Japanese bishounen, I just barely knew of manga and anime at the time that I wrote the poem, much less bishounen, doujinshi, hentai, yaoi, or yuri.
Me'esh p'rem a'atu, carintal
Sho'ermun shrebahta barstamin spekala capado
Hisharaman kantal sifro ha'ana,
Me'eshpet pakaran stilo talan,
Tobal nilit edul intalan to'araiel
Sho ekatanal djaharu chechen ko'er daiken,
Spomebla paharan foor murdic tapil korhemin,
Khefna shilim parharanath malar intalantar,
Ph'tal mekital mektim s'fan,
Mispa charifran codolai crili spomariad
Spal bofan gekatanal-
Wiblon porsphe thalantal?
Ko stam etam foz me'rinoble,
Mespinash sokola splef kiphal k'horan camital,
Klameth shoshun t'li sharan
Tullae b'shila elkang dahar spagana
Kishtalman daouen bespo'in cha cleba acrital
Shefidden skel tarra mispo'ai nebla mispochil
Madag shpetarken fanatalath
Shoshun b'kan lif shodaran skapal k'laiart
Tostilaren spekinon taiba,
Spekitil ha'ancha peltai?
Afamaiel (2000)
Afamaiel, afamaiel, duma'khaiel abromonis,
Kitatikel meniachem ch'porna amakiel tenebra,
B'shonin h'alla'tu calanin djuhornis,
Afamaiel
There are stories behind and associated with these poems... The first was written in 1997 after my girlfriend of the time said somethng in conversation and I asked her what it meant, and it turned out that it was an invented word that she and her sisters used, so I said, "Jabberwocky!", and she didn't know what that meant. After I explained it to her, she challenged me to write a poem using 'nonsense' words in similar fashion. When I first started out, I had one or two per line, but the more I wrestled with the meaning, the more they took over the poem, until invented words were all that was left of it.
When I read the first poem to idyllwild, he thought that it sounded like a banishment or exorcism ceremony, but I disagreed- I "had" to- I already had my backstory/'translation'- and so in response to idyllwild's commetn, I wrote Afamaiel.
I have also read Me'esh P'rem A'atu at slam- the group that hosted sessions for the 1999/2000 season at the local coffeehouse was Hispanic, and invariably one or two people would get on the mic at each session and do something that was entirely in spanish without any kind of translation. ...So, 'long about the 7th or 8th session, I brought along Me'esh... Got decent scores (5s) from the two Hispanic judges that evening, but the Anglo was like, "I... don't know what to make of all that," and gave me a 3.
Reading/Performance Tips: An apostrophe indicates an unvoiced stop approximately equal to a 1/16 rest- it's there, but it's not as long of a pause as there is between individual words. Rs are a combination of the Spanish 'd-d-d' roll and the French back-of-the-throat 'kh'. ai is generally 'eye' rather than 'ay'. I have been told that the overall effect is something like a cross between German and Arabic.
Although there is some similarity in pronunciation between the b'shonin of the third line in Afamaiel and the Japanese bishounen, I just barely knew of manga and anime at the time that I wrote the poem, much less bishounen, doujinshi, hentai, yaoi, or yuri.