NaPoWriMo Day 12

Good morning and Welcome to day twelve of NaPoWriMo.

Man's Best Friend

Iâ€™m here
this land to get
a friend, my life earner
Grazing tribute, the mooch does take

Â Is it true a dog is manâ€™s best friend?

Â We are bubbling open here
My life earner; my friend
Tribute well paid
Here dog!

Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â By: Barbara KÃ¶hler

Ich harre aus im Land und geh, ihm fremd,
Mit einer Liebe, die mich Ã¼ber Grenzen treibt,
Zwischen den Himmeln. Sehe jeder, wo er bleibt;
Ich harre aus im Land und geh ihm fremd.

Mit einer Liebe, die mich Ã¼ber Grenzen treibt,
Will ich die ÃœbereinkÃ¼nfte verletzen
Und lachen, reiÃŸ ich mir das Herz in Fetzen
Mit jener Liebe, die mich Ã¼ber Grenzen treibt.

Zwischen den Himmeln sehe jeder, wo er bleibt:
Ein blutig Lappen wird gehiÃŸt, das Luftschiff fÃ¤llt.
Kein Land in Sicht; vielleicht ein Seil, das hÃ¤lt
Zwischen den Himmeln. Sehe jeder, wo er bleibt.

Okay this was a strange one.Â Remember the Rondeau form? We wrote it last Friday for mindful poetry.Â I took a Rondeau and translated it into a conversant - today's mindful poetry form. Why is the translation off?

So, for today, try finding a short poem in another language (one you donâ€™t already know!) and translating it homophonically. The Poetry International website is a good place to look â€” they have poems from all over the world, in dozens of languages. Just cut and paste a poem into your text editor (ignoring the English translations that the site provides) and go to town!

Also â€” please remember, these prompts are totally optional. As with a homophonic translation, thereâ€™s no need to be loyal here â€” mix, match, alter or ignore as you please.

So yes it is strange, but I had a lot of fun with this one.Â I hope you see the humor in my effort.Â And please read the actual translation of Ms. Kohler's poem by following the link.

Comments: 29

JOHN BECK Apr 12, 2012, 11:59am UTC

Well done despite 7 syllables in line 6.

Veronica Hosking Apr 12, 2012, 12:05pm UTC

Opps... I can't count apparently.

Veronica Hosking Apr 12, 2012, 12:07pm UTC

Okay I did count correctly but may be wrong I counted bubbling as 3 syllables.

JOHN BECK Apr 12, 2012, 12:21pm UTC

That's what I suspected, but it's two.

Veronica Hosking Apr 12, 2012, 12:23pm UTC

Oh well that's what you get for not checking with a dictionary.

JOHN BECK Apr 12, 2012, 12:29pm UTC

In the past I've gotten into trouble by using a diphthong as two syllables, because it is two sounds.

Janet "Jax" B. Apr 12, 2012, 1:23pm UTC

caramel is one that about got me last night....it's 3, but I say it as 2.

Veronica Hosking Apr 12, 2012, 1:40pm UTC

Jax, it is a lot like tomato, tomato. I had to take a phoneme class in college as an English major. We had to write words out phonetically on tests. The professor told us, If you ever get a word marked wrong you think is correct, come up and pronounce it for me. Different dialects have different pronunciations.

JOHN BECK Apr 12, 2012, 10:11pm UTC

Thank you for posting to the Triple Name Club.

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Veronica Hosking Apr 12, 2012, 12:55pm UTC

How is this for a rewrite of line 6 - we are bubbling over with love.

JOHN BECK Apr 12, 2012, 1:45pm UTC

That would work.

Veronica Hosking Apr 12, 2012, 1:47pm UTC

Thanks. I like it better because it takes out the two heres in the second part.

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Katryn D. Apr 12, 2012, 12:56pm UTC

seems like it worked - interesting combo of the prompts

Veronica Hosking Apr 12, 2012, 12:58pm UTC

Thank you. It was fun even though the poem is rather strange.

Katryn D. Apr 12, 2012, 1:12pm UTC

it was a rather odd prompt for NaPoWriMo

Veronica Hosking Apr 12, 2012, 1:36pm UTC

I know and for one being dyslexic, it is hard to sound out words.

Katryn D. Apr 12, 2012, 1:39pm UTC

yeah, that's the part I was having issues with...phonetics...yuck

Susan Budig - Mindful Poet Apr 12, 2012, 3:48pm UTC

dyslexia makes it hard to sound out words?

If so, no wonder I struggle with spelling and such. While I don't have a full blown case of dyslexia, I have a very, very mild case. My dad has it much, much worse. He *is* dyslexic.

Veronica Hosking Apr 12, 2012, 4:37pm UTC

Yes, dyslexia makes learning to read through phonics very difficult to impossible, depending how severe your dyslexia is. Something I hd the worst time covincing the reading specialist at my daughter's school who swore my daughter wasn't even trying to learn to read. I told her, take her off the phonics program. Rachael was reading at grade level within a month.

Katryn D. Apr 12, 2012, 4:46pm UTC

I was lucky with Callisto, once they got her into reading the specialist there didn't use phonetics :) and she quickly caught up and passed grade level reading at that point.

getting them to make concessions for her spelling in other areas was the tricky part. she would often dumb down her answers trying to write with words she was sure she could spell.

Veronica Hosking Apr 12, 2012, 4:54pm UTC

Yes, I didn't get it. You realize students are having problems learning to read through the phonics program in class so you drown them with more phonics in a "special" class. Of course the reason the teacher thought Rachael was just being lazy is because Rachael got very good at repeating phonemes. She just couldn't sound them out on her own.

Katryn D. Apr 12, 2012, 4:59pm UTC

yeah, that's when the genius brain takes over and helps...the problem is twice exceptional students often fall through the cracks because of that.

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Janet "Jax" B. Apr 12, 2012, 1:24pm UTC

kinda neat....Angela will want to look at your German poem. She'll probably be able to translate it better than I did....my German is very, very rusty (what I remember, that is).

I guess I didn't quite get the form afterall...Hmm...back to the drawing board.

Veronica Hosking Apr 12, 2012, 1:33pm UTC

Here's another conversant I wrote, Jax. Maybe reading more examples will help.

Janet "Jax" B. Apr 12, 2012, 1:36pm UTC

I posted mine hours ago....I went to Robert's site and followed the format of his, since he did come up with the form. Oh well. LOL

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Susan Budig - Mindful Poet Apr 12, 2012, 3:51pm UTC

Visually very cohesive, but aurally, somewhat disjointed. I counted bubbling as three syllables, too. :-) But trust John that it's two.

What a hoot! Appearing with pleasure at Mindful Poetry.

Veronica Hosking Apr 12, 2012, 4:48pm UTC

Yes, even with mild dyslexia it's hard to sound out words. It came out disjointed but it was fun.

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Granny Janny Apr 12, 2012, 10:36pm UTC

I like how you take this to the international level. Very cool.

Veronica Hosking Apr 12, 2012, 10:47pm UTC

Thank you. It helped give me an idea for the NaPoWriMo prompt today.

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NaPoWriMo Day 12

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