Amy Kitchener’s Holiday Think About It Challenge: CAN YOU READ THIS|
2--The Diploemat |
December 2012 |
Amy Kitchener’s Holiday Think About It Challenge: CAN YOU READ THISThanks to Bernard Hall, who sent the following challenge via e-mail. Since it focuses on a subject of concern to all seniors, we are sharing it as a holiday ho ho ho—hoping you laugh, and hoping it gives you hope that you are far from the feared A word: Alzheimer’s. Read it out loud and then--only if you answer the question “Can you read this?” with a resounding YES to one or both passages--pass it on. May the muse be with you.
| If you can raed this, you have a sgtrane mnid, too. Can you raed this? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can. I cdnuolt blveiee that I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd what I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, is that it dseno't mtaetr in what oerdr the ltteres in a word are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is that the frsit and last ltteer be in the rghit pclae. Tihs is bcuseae in a wrod the olny iproamtnt tihng is that the frsit and last ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can still raed. Mnid deos not raed ervey lteter. Azanmig huh? Yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! If you can raed this forwrad it |
VERNA LEE HINEGARDNER | Former Arkansas Senior Poet Laureate dies at 93Verna Lee Hinegardner, our 2011 Arkansas Senior Poet Laureate, who was appointed by Gov. Bill Clinton as Poet Laureate of Arkansas in 1991, a term she held for twelve years, died Oct. 4, 2012 in Conway after a long illness. A prolific poet, Verna Lee was author of thirteen books of poetry and held the distinction of being the inventor of a highly popular poetic form, the 60-syllable “Minute,” featured in contests around the world. It captures a slice of life in 12 lines of iambic tetrameter and dimeter. Syllables are 8-4-4-4-8-4-4-4-8-4-4-4. The rhyme scheme is a-a-b-b-c-c-d-d-e-e-f-f. |
In honor of Verna Lee Hinegardner, we are sharing this example of a Minute that appears in Lee Ann Russell’s guidebook to poetic forms, How To Write Poetry—Ballad to Villanelle. Copies are available for $22 from Lee Ann Russell, 1004 N. Rogers Ave., Springfield, MO 65802. Lee Ann was winner of the Golden Pen Award for Living Poet in the 2012 Senior Poets Laureate contest. QUIET TIME A place behind the old garage Lee Ann Russell |
