Appalachian (ii)
Papa, lain plain in a clinic—
a chill pall, a china hall.
a chill pall, a china hall.
Nail a chin, chap a lip, pin a hip.
Call Canaan: nil. Call alpha: nil.
Call Canaan: nil. Call alpha: nil.
I call & call— Nana, nah; Hannah, nah.
I clinch all I can clinch:
a chill chin, a chain.
a chill chin, a chain.
Chap-lain, I inch in:
chain in chaplain, plain in chaplain,
pain in chaplain, lain in chaplain.
Pinch chai in a phial,
pinch a lilac in a chill pan.
All I can call clan:
a hill, a chain, a call.
I ail & inch & I can.
27 thoughts on "Appalachian (ii)"
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What a dense thicket of sound, Shaun. Very creative!
Wow. So good. I’m am a little speechless.
Thank you so much! I wish I could buy a vowel!
Thank you, Jeremy!
Dang this is good, Shaun! The sound and fury.
Thank you, Kevin. This is an ongoing experiment lol
This is visually stunning. Kevin says it well “THe sound and the fury”
Shew! x4
Thank you so much Pam!
This is amazing! I love how you have managed to hold onto a clear narrative through all of this sound play.
Thank you, Chelsie! It’s a fun experiment!
desperation well captured
Thank you, Laverne!
So rhythmic! Reading aloud emphasizes emotion and word play. Well done, Shaun
Thank you so much!
I love this- like a broken prayer, and so unique with its extended a-p-p-a-l-a-c-h-i-a-n. (I want to try this form!)
Thank you Michele! I think you should. I think I’d like a word with 1 more vowel perhaps next time 🙂
What an intriguing poem.
Thank you, Karen!
Wow, Shaun – You make the impossible, not only possible, but dramatic!
Thank you so much, Sylvia. It’s not impossible! But definitely dramatic. :p
Very creative use of language!
Thank you Linda!
Ok this was fun – so nicely executed!
Thank you, Arwen! Constraints definitely can make the play of writing!
Wow, wow, wow. And the last phrase — “I can” — raises it to a whole new level. Would love to know how much revision you did to get the sounds right!
Thank you Libby!
This is actually the second in a series of these I’ve been playing with, and basically I just made a word Bank and spent a lot of time putting them together in different ways to tell different little mini stories–it took a few hours of drafting back and forth to get this one specifically