Etymorphonological Approach To Poetry
Utilizing Etymology, Morphology and Phonology to construct a single poem while using multiple languages.
David Rowe did this with his Salamander poem.
Combine Etymology, Morphology and Phonology.
Use all languages.
David Rowe did this with his Salamander Poem -
SALAMANDER, OR: SPLITTING THE WORD ASUNDER
To get out of its way
& let the word have its say;
to allow salamander,
with its ballistic tongue,
to speak as it were
for itself...
ssssSeethes forth from between
parted lip-flesh the steam,
the humid heat,
to hiss the wheel, the salamandala, into motion.
Sa: natural exhalation
made conscious mantra
via the Tibetan lama's
art & concentration;
seed syllable born ready to spill
& to spell its semen-antics.
Sa-la-illaha-illa-allah-mander
Sal: first step of the blessed meanderer,
samana en desultory route to salvation;
Philosophic salt, it aggravates
our thirst for experience, which is to say: heartbreak.
Saltatory salmon of wisdom which
puts fire in the poet's belly,
the Promethean liver, iron-rich
& ever nourishing the birdsoul.
Then again, the homeopathic salve, salicylic acid,
flame-fighting febrifuge.
Sala: inside-out "Alas," sigh
of affirmation-in-spite
-of-everything, a solemn cry
of mercy realized as grand merci,
universal love chosen as armor
by the jilted paramour.
Maya's cherry which secretly
bears the stone-seed of Buddhahood,
sal-om-mani-padme-hum-ander.
Salam/Shalom-Ander: a benediction: "Peace-to-Man;"
passionate man of peace
amidst passion's holocaust,
Word on the cross, Word in the manger.
Sa-la-illaha-illa-allah-mander
Salome: ekstatic maenad, tender
-hearted wetnurse & blood-crazed render,
strip-dancing the shamanic mandate,
at each of hell's seven almond-shaped gates
shedding a veil until she's translated
to the Muses' Mount Helicon
having made vulnerability
her most venerable ability,
having forged her foibles into fables,
beheading the ego- "Sauft alle mit einander"-
& thereby midwifing the death-in-life/life-in-death cycle.
Soolam: black stone which proves pristine dream pillow & golden
ladder to heaven and back.
Sal ammonica: piss & dung of pilgrims' camels
refined into life-promoting fertilizer, rebel's
& reveler's explosives, smelling salts to awaken consciousness.
Sacred/Taboo Untouchable, Outcast destined to cast out our sins & demons.
A la the dervish performing his turning (sema),
the salamander is the genius of emptiness (sama)
generating wings & taking flight (samara), finding
purchase in the doorway of King
Solomon's Temple:
Sa-la-illaha-illa-allah-mander
I am
I am that
I am that I am.
The highest cause of everything is living
within the thing itself,
verdant word as wheel & whirler of the wheel,
Dharma-chakra come full circle back to mysterious "S,"
death-tree shading Zeus' birth-cave, amphibious
alphabetic agent both of hissing demise & of plurality:
ssssSalamanderSssss.
David Rowe did this with his Salamander poem.
Combine Etymology, Morphology and Phonology.
Use all languages.
David Rowe did this with his Salamander Poem -
SALAMANDER, OR: SPLITTING THE WORD ASUNDER
To get out of its way
& let the word have its say;
to allow salamander,
with its ballistic tongue,
to speak as it were
for itself...
ssssSeethes forth from between
parted lip-flesh the steam,
the humid heat,
to hiss the wheel, the salamandala, into motion.
Sa: natural exhalation
made conscious mantra
via the Tibetan lama's
art & concentration;
seed syllable born ready to spill
& to spell its semen-antics.
Sa-la-illaha-illa-allah-mander
Sal: first step of the blessed meanderer,
samana en desultory route to salvation;
Philosophic salt, it aggravates
our thirst for experience, which is to say: heartbreak.
Saltatory salmon of wisdom which
puts fire in the poet's belly,
the Promethean liver, iron-rich
& ever nourishing the birdsoul.
Then again, the homeopathic salve, salicylic acid,
flame-fighting febrifuge.
Sala: inside-out "Alas," sigh
of affirmation-in-spite
-of-everything, a solemn cry
of mercy realized as grand merci,
universal love chosen as armor
by the jilted paramour.
Maya's cherry which secretly
bears the stone-seed of Buddhahood,
sal-om-mani-padme-hum-ander.
Salam/Shalom-Ander: a benediction: "Peace-to-Man;"
passionate man of peace
amidst passion's holocaust,
Word on the cross, Word in the manger.
Sa-la-illaha-illa-allah-mander
Salome: ekstatic maenad, tender
-hearted wetnurse & blood-crazed render,
strip-dancing the shamanic mandate,
at each of hell's seven almond-shaped gates
shedding a veil until she's translated
to the Muses' Mount Helicon
having made vulnerability
her most venerable ability,
having forged her foibles into fables,
beheading the ego- "Sauft alle mit einander"-
& thereby midwifing the death-in-life/life-in-death cycle.
Soolam: black stone which proves pristine dream pillow & golden
ladder to heaven and back.
Sal ammonica: piss & dung of pilgrims' camels
refined into life-promoting fertilizer, rebel's
& reveler's explosives, smelling salts to awaken consciousness.
Sacred/Taboo Untouchable, Outcast destined to cast out our sins & demons.
A la the dervish performing his turning (sema),
the salamander is the genius of emptiness (sama)
generating wings & taking flight (samara), finding
purchase in the doorway of King
Solomon's Temple:
Sa-la-illaha-illa-allah-mander
I am
I am that
I am that I am.
The highest cause of everything is living
within the thing itself,
verdant word as wheel & whirler of the wheel,
Dharma-chakra come full circle back to mysterious "S,"
death-tree shading Zeus' birth-cave, amphibious
alphabetic agent both of hissing demise & of plurality:
ssssSalamanderSssss.