kennings, 3

  advancing into the sunset

    the two dimensional surface
    and the selfboat of my body

    from another dimension
    your warm presence
    seems
           in this cool ocean
    more real
          than my own

    with every breath of the salty water
    i taste roses
      of your wavy breasts

    the ocean passes by (the sun is red)

    i wear horizon
        'round my head

wh ©
1989/1990
dec/dec

---

There is 1 diagonal and 2 non-diagonal kennings in the above poem:

diagonal:

• roses of breasts — nipples and their aureoles;

non-diagonal:

• the selfboat of my body — this kenning is an extraction. And "selfboat" is a neologism.
• breath of the salty water

The last phrase has a potential to become a diagonal kenning. In the given poem it describes the breath of the lyrical subject rather than of the ocean. The latter interpretation is possible as a secondary one. Anyway, that latter interpretation allows for a diagonal kenning of fog or wind at the sea. Thus I will include this last kenning in both categories of kennings.

---

Let me compile the kennings which have appeared in the 3 poems posted so far.

Diagonal kennings:

• breath of the salty water — sea wind or sea fog;
• God's toys — church buildings;
• roses of breasts -- nipples and their aureoles;
  
• stars' backyard — mountains or a town up in the mountains.

Non-diagonal kennings:

• breath of the salty water
  

• grass lawn

• the code of behavior

• the meadow of slumber

• the selfboat of my body -- an extraction
  

• the sheets of music

• the sky of May

Neologisms:

• selfboat -- the body of a swimmer or simply a swimmer.

kennings, 2

This time I'll present a 2-part poem which features non-diagonal kennings.

==


a concert outdoors

          the code of behavior
          --------------------


  the trees and bushes
   steal sun and shadow
    from one another
     and
  step on your toes  trip you  trip you
   till you fall
    into the narrow patch
     of the meadow of slumber
  ... you HEAR
   the sheets
    attached to branches and shoots
     by clothes-pins
  the sheets of music ...

  silence
   wakes you up
    the guys under the tree
     clean instruments
  alright  you clap


____________________________________________



         Small Girls
      Have Great Future



  the sky of May
  punishes the audience

  a small girl
  knows none of that

  the orchestra breathes
  under the oak

  the girl follows her yellow and black
  pacifier   the propeller must be rotating
                      too fast to see

  she sounds
  like a small bee

  20 years from now
  she'll marry
  a devoted bear

wh ©
1991-05-05



======================================

I am much more interested in diagonal kenning than in the non-diagonal ones. Since people tend to confuse them, I have decided to list both kinds, and to separate them. Most of the time the distinction is very clear, the obscure cases are relatively rare.

Non-diagonal kennings:

• the code of behavior

• the meadow of slumber

• the sheets of music

• the sky of May

For the sake of convenience, let me collect the kennings from the previously posted poem ("6000 feet"). There were two, and both were diagonal:

Diagonal kennings:

• stars' backyard -- mountains or a town up in the mountains;
• God's toys -- church buildings.

Actually, there was also one non-diagonal:

• grass lawn

One can see already from the above 5 examples of non-diagonal kennings that they represent several different semantical constructions, and they also have various relation to the common language--e.g. the expression "grass lawn" is simply a part of the common English, and "the sheets of music" is almost like that too. However, there is a dramatic difference between the usage of the two in the respective poems.

kennings, 1

Let me (try to) start a presentation of my poems and my kennings featured in my poems.


6000 feet

       6000 feet up plus two
       of my own
       in the stars' backyard
       surrounded by God's toys
       catholic lutheran methodist pentecostal...
       and grass lawns which grow
       cigarette butts
       will I join
       the midget trees
       in the midget town?



wh, ©
1996-jan/feb

Diagonal kennings:

stars' backyard -- mountains or a town up in the mountains;
God's toys -- church buildings.