Kevin's Watch

Wayfriend may be right that DPJ has some advantages in this game, but let's give him a good run for the money...

Following entry spoilered for Gap plot points:

Spoiler

Apotheosis
Word meant freedom to Angus
But brought Holt anguish

StevieG wrote:apotheosis, excoriation, ineluctable, preternatural, unambergrised

5, 5, 5, 5, 4 is my guess.

Maybe it is my vocal training from years back, but I would say un/am/ber/gri/sed instead of un/am/ber/grised, which is why I am asking wayfriend for clarification.

Menolly wouldn't let me repeat her parts of this chat, but I amused myself by comparing the timestamps. Five mediocre haiku in under five minutes. One of which turns out to be very much like what rdhopeca said.

(16:32:51) Goatkiller666:
Most people get no
More preternatural in
Their lives than Twilight.
(16:33:52) Goatkiller666:
Count the syllables
In unambergrised
Is that four, or five?
(16:34:08) Goatkiller666: A little bit of haiku meta-humor.
(16:34:35) Goatkiller666: The word doesn't even appear in dictionary.com
(16:34:56) Goatkiller666: In fact... if you google it, the first several hits are SRD references, or Kevin's Watch itself.
(16:36:28) Goatkiller666:
With this here haiku
I will have achieved my own
Apotheosis.
(16:36:54) Goatkiller666:
I don't consider
A Dread Poet victory
Ineluctable.
(16:38:02) Goatkiller666:
Can someone tell me:
What does 'excoriation'
Mean in a sentence?
(16:38:07) Goatkiller666: There... one for all five.

Mirth ineffable
Flares bright from steel-struck flint hearts:
Ineluctable

Corucsate, argent!
Apotheosis of fire
For love's catharsis

Claws rend my back's flesh
Tendrils of pure brilliance: my
Excoriation

How can we render
Up the innocence so soon,
scars Unambergrised?

Forswearing all fates
We step forth armored, shining,
Praeternatural.

Oh fine, I'm out of the running now. Here goes anyway:

Let us hope that your
next review is more than an
excoriation.

(And I would pronounce unambergrised as four syllables, not five. Un-am-ber-griss-ed? Nah. Doesn't sound right.)

aliantha wrote:(And I would pronounce unambergrised as four syllables, not five. Un-am-ber-griss-ed? Nah. Doesn't sound right.)

Edited at you service, my lady.

I really should hold off until closer to the end to see what I am up against, initial inspiration be damned.

Menolly wrote:A question for you wf, before I drive myself (and contestants) crazy...

Do you pronounce each of the required words with five syllables? So if used in the first or third line, they would be the only word used, such as in your example?

No. Unambergrised is, I believe, 4. You can pronounce it with 5 if you want to - un-am-ber-gree-zed, or -griss-ed, or something - as poets can do stuff like that.

I wanted to throw that one in because I liked it. According to SRD, it means unmourned (?). If you can use it correctly in a haiku, well, that's mad skill.

Sorry for the confusion! I did not anticipate this issue.

rdhopeca wrote:I really should hold off until closer to the end to see what I am up against, initial inspiration be damned.

nuh-uh!
Your entry is great, Rob. And the first is always the hardest to submit.
What if everyone had that attitude? Then no one would submit the first entry!

Besides, multiple entries are welcomed.

And thanks for the reply, wf!

wayfriend wrote:

Menolly wrote:A question for you wf, before I drive myself (and contestants) crazy...

Do you pronounce each of the required words with five syllables? So if used in the first or third line, they would be the only word used, such as in your example?

No. Unambergrised is, I believe, 4. You can pronounce it with 5 if you want to - un-am-ber-gree-zed, or -griss-ed, or something - as poets can do stuff like that.

I wanted to throw that one in because I liked it. According to SRD, it means unmourned (?). If you can use it correctly in a haiku, well, that's mad skill.

Sorry for the confusion! I did not anticipate this issue.

Aw man. I was reading up on the word when I wrote mine and I found that somewhere ambergris is an ingredient used in perfume-making. Also used to cover the scent of a dead body. So unambergrised would be an unperfumed alive/dead person?

Maybe?

I will say no more on the subject of the meaning of the word 'unambergrised'. Figuring out how to use it seems like part of the contest. But I will leave a last hint: search the GI.

wayfriend wrote:I will say no more on the subject of the meaning of the word 'unambergrised'. Figuring out how to use it seems like part of the contest. But I will leave a last hint: search the GI.

Beaten down, haggard
Ineluctable sorrow
in all my choices

There're some interesting and worthy candidates posted.

matrixman wrote:Beaten down, haggard
Ineluctable sorrow
in all my choices

I really like that one, neo.

wayfriend wrote:There're some interesting and worthy candidates posted.

Maybe you should do one for each word.

So many good ones
A robust haiku contest
Is gratifying

My thanks to Wayfriend
For both contest and misplaced
Confidence I’d win

Encouraging more
Haiku and other poems
Is too important

Sonnets were one thing
That one was a stretch for me
Here, others should win

Here’s some throw-aways
Fractured word-play and punnage
For grins and giggles

• You know she will run
  Even though we all know she’s
  Ineluctable
  
  The former boyfriend
  Named Corey gets no notice
  Excoriation
  
  Before inversion
  It was in an unspoiled state
  Preternatural
  
  No tanning lotion
  Means no healthy glow to skin
  You’re unambergrised

Yes, you may groan now
Some hints are listed below
For the pun-impaired

Spoiler

Unelectable
Ex Corey – a shun
Pre-turn natural
Un amber greased

That Dread Poet is a machine!

Menolly wrote:

matrixman wrote:Beaten down, haggard
Ineluctable sorrow
in all my choices

I really like that one, neo.

Thanks, Menolly! Really glad you like it. I racked my brains over that one. Distilling my thoughts into a few short lines is hard.

Jethro, no appalling pun involving apotheosis? Slacker...

(OK, maybe not so much)

(Due to the US holiday, this contest will stay open for a while longer.)