Saying When

35 posts1, 2, 3
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Ventomology
Gender Female
Points 34788
Reviews 566
Sat Apr 05, 2025 7:12 am
Ventomology says... · Sat Apr 05, 2025 7:12 am
Just a sounds exercise

Crime rate crime rat
Primate crime at
eight
Pry, Mate. Prime rate
Climb rate climate
Crime at prime rates
Cry mat pirates
Irate pirates climb at prime rates
"I've got dreams like you--no really!--just much less, touchy-feeley.
They mainly happen somewhere warm and sunny
on an island that I own, tanned and rested and alone
surrounded by enormous piles of money." -Flynn Rider, Tangled
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Ventomology
Gender Female
Points 34788
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Sat Apr 05, 2025 2:00 pm
Ventomology says... · Sat Apr 05, 2025 2:00 pm
7 | Just got a book of William Carlos Williams stuff from the library

I should eat
the pineapple
that is in
the fridge

and which
I probably should have
eaten
last week

Forgive me
you are not from a Taiwanese street stall
so tangy
and so fresh
"I've got dreams like you--no really!--just much less, touchy-feeley.
They mainly happen somewhere warm and sunny
on an island that I own, tanned and rested and alone
surrounded by enormous piles of money." -Flynn Rider, Tangled
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Ventomology
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Points 34788
Reviews 566
Sat Apr 05, 2025 3:21 pm
Ventomology says... · Sat Apr 05, 2025 3:21 pm
8

阿媽，我愛你。
請你不吩我來
到台灣跟我的
非常俊男朋友。
我沒有男朋友。
我不找男朋友。
我不要男朋友。
你想要我找到
一個男朋友嗎？
你可以去找他。

Spoiler
I don't think I'm quite at the level where I can rhyme intentionally in Mandarin, but since traditional Chinese poetry forms are extremely rigorous in their line lengths, I thought it could be fun to try and lay out a poem with this kind of precise formatting. Looks clean, right? I can't attest to the quality of my syntax though.

Spoiler
Second spoiler for translation and pronunciation haha.

Tr:
Ama, I love you.
Please stop demanding that I bring
my extremely handsome and talented boyfriend
to Taiwan with me.
I don't have a boyfriend.
I'm not looking for a boyfriend.
I don't want a boyfriend.
You want me to find
a boyfriend that badly?
Find him for me.

Pronunciation:
Amā, wǒ ài nǐ.
Qǐng nǐ bùfēn wǒ lái
dào táiwān gēn wǒde
fēi​cháng jùn nán​péng​you.
Wǒ méi​yǒu nán​péng​you.
Wǒ bùzhǎo nán​péng​you.
Wǒ búyào nán​péng​you.
Nǐ xiǎng​yào wǒ zhǎo​dào
yī​ge nán​péng​you ma?
Nǐ kě​yǐ qù zhǎo tā.
Last edited by Ventomology on Mon Apr 07, 2025 3:22 am, edited 2 times in total.
"I've got dreams like you--no really!--just much less, touchy-feeley.
They mainly happen somewhere warm and sunny
on an island that I own, tanned and rested and alone
surrounded by enormous piles of money." -Flynn Rider, Tangled
Quote




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Ventomology
Gender Female
Points 34788
Reviews 566
Mon Apr 07, 2025 3:10 am
Ventomology says... · Mon Apr 07, 2025 3:10 am
Sunday Sonnet #1

I know the price I’ll pay
tomorrow when I rise
but I worked yesterday
and haven’t felt the prize
of two whole days of rest
so God, give me the strength
to bundle in my nest
and take the proper length
of sleep I need to be
my best on Monday morn
when in the hours wee
I working clothes adorn
and drag myself to work
though I should like to shirk.

Spoiler
Shakespearean rhyme scheme but in iambic... trimeter? It feels very fast.
"I've got dreams like you--no really!--just much less, touchy-feeley.
They mainly happen somewhere warm and sunny
on an island that I own, tanned and rested and alone
surrounded by enormous piles of money." -Flynn Rider, Tangled
Quote




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Spearmint
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Points 35327
Reviews 315
Mon Apr 07, 2025 3:41 am
Spearmint says... · Mon Apr 07, 2025 3:41 am
Spoiler
dude the flow of that sonnet is so good o.o all the rhymes are so natural?? and i could just read this again and again?? the topic is also very relatable :')
i love your poems in multiple languages as well <3 "When do you know someone well enough to cry at their funeral?" hurts, maybe all the more so because i can't understand the Chinese and it reminds me of how i don't know how to speak in Korean to my grandparents.
and then the sounds exercise poem is such a vibe xD wishing you all the best for the rest of NaPo, Vento!!
mint, she/her


.--. / ... ...- -.-. .-.. / - .--. ..- .- / .--- --- ...- .--- / .--- --- .--. .-- / .--. .--- .-.. / .--- -.-- .-.. .... -
=D
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Ventomology
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Points 34788
Reviews 566
Wed Apr 09, 2025 3:16 am
Ventomology says... · Wed Apr 09, 2025 3:16 am
10

Every project passes faster than the last.
Brilliance of craft?
Or did I bury my head and let the time just pass?

Spoiler
@Spearmint thank you!! Yeah I didn't really pick up Chinese in earnest until it was convenient -- there's a Taiwanese-run language school very near where I live right now -- and I often wish I'd tried harder as a kid. So you're picking up exactly what I put down : D
"I've got dreams like you--no really!--just much less, touchy-feeley.
They mainly happen somewhere warm and sunny
on an island that I own, tanned and rested and alone
surrounded by enormous piles of money." -Flynn Rider, Tangled
Quote




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Ventomology
Gender Female
Points 34788
Reviews 566
Wed Apr 09, 2025 3:27 am
Ventomology says... · Wed Apr 09, 2025 3:27 am
11 | Twenty-Five

On my birthday, Sayed hands me a fancy
cookie. “Happy
quarter-life
crisis,” he says.

Five dollars,
fruity frosting,
firm, crumbly bite.

He’d better be right.
"I've got dreams like you--no really!--just much less, touchy-feeley.
They mainly happen somewhere warm and sunny
on an island that I own, tanned and rested and alone
surrounded by enormous piles of money." -Flynn Rider, Tangled
Quote




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Ventomology
Gender Female
Points 34788
Reviews 566
Wed Apr 09, 2025 7:40 pm
Ventomology says... · Wed Apr 09, 2025 7:40 pm
12 | Speak Carefully

Three ‘wen’s to know: wén, wěn, wèn.
Keep their meanings in your ken.
Wén (tone two) is ‘hear’ or ‘smell.’
Context here will serve you well.
Wěn, in tone three’s daring gliss,
bravely blows you each a kiss.
Tone four wèn keeps you on task,
short and sharp though it means ‘ask.’

Spoiler
A popular form in classical Chinese poetry is the seven-word eight-line poem. Often, Chinese poems were written in couplet, and some even go so far as to dictate what tones can fall on which beats! It all seems very rigorous. Unfortunately, the great classical poems are all written in old dialects that are difficult even for native Mandarin speakers, so it could be hard for me to go read them myself haha.
"I've got dreams like you--no really!--just much less, touchy-feeley.
They mainly happen somewhere warm and sunny
on an island that I own, tanned and rested and alone
surrounded by enormous piles of money." -Flynn Rider, Tangled
Quote




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Ventomology
Gender Female
Points 34788
Reviews 566
Sun Apr 13, 2025 2:05 am
Ventomology says... · Sun Apr 13, 2025 2:05 am
13 | Flex Day (part one)

The moment I sign up for Saturday work,
I’m already dreaming of
Flex Day.

From MLKJ Day to Mem-Day in May,
my singular respite is
Flex Day.

It’s coming! It’s coming! Flex-weekend is here.
I’ve only been saving up tasks half the year.
I’ll vacuum and deep-clean and toss out all that,
and prep all the stuff that I’ll need for the cat
I plan to adopt – and have planned since last June,
but this time for sure I will get my cat soon.

On Monday, I see possibilities broad:
the things I’ll accomplish on
Flex Day.
"I've got dreams like you--no really!--just much less, touchy-feeley.
They mainly happen somewhere warm and sunny
on an island that I own, tanned and rested and alone
surrounded by enormous piles of money." -Flynn Rider, Tangled
Quote




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Ventomology
Gender Female
Points 34788
Reviews 566
Mon Apr 14, 2025 3:57 am
Ventomology says... · Mon Apr 14, 2025 3:57 am
14 | Sunday Sonnet #2

The trouble started mid-September last,
when my apartment’s boiler was turned on.
I found myself awake at crack of dawn,
when by all rights I should have slept right past
my phone alarm, but nay, I felt the blast
of heat–excruciating heat!–that, drawn
up through the radiator pipes, would spawn
a high of eighty as I broke my fast.

The super came to check my unit twice,
and both times did his bare, perfunc’try prod.
The first time left my place as cold as ice,
the second? Maybe left it overthawed.
Now spring is here - I’m over playing nice!
Replace that valve or face the wrath of god!
"I've got dreams like you--no really!--just much less, touchy-feeley.
They mainly happen somewhere warm and sunny
on an island that I own, tanned and rested and alone
surrounded by enormous piles of money." -Flynn Rider, Tangled
Quote




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TheSilverFox
Gender None specified
Points 24185
Reviews 299
Tue Apr 15, 2025 3:09 am
TheSilverFox says... · Tue Apr 15, 2025 3:09 am
Spoiler
if something in my apartment breaks and I have to talk to management I WILL cry

also ahhhhhh good luck with adopting a cat!! and send me a million pictures of them thanks!!!
S'io credesse che mia risposta fosse
a persona che mai tornasse al mondo,
questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse.
Ma per ciò che giammai di questo fondo
non tornò vivo alcun, s'i' odo il vero,
senza tema d'infamia ti rispondo.

Inferno, Canto 27, l 61-66.
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Ventomology
Gender Female
Points 34788
Reviews 566
Tue Apr 15, 2025 9:27 pm
Ventomology says... · Tue Apr 15, 2025 9:27 pm
15 | 五穀米

The spicy tang of kimchi’s got me hungry
This tofu soup was so hard to obtain
I only wanted one time to feel nostalgia
I only want to feel nostalgia eating purple grain

Purple grain, purple grain
Purple grain, purple grain
Purple grain, purple grain
I only want to eat my tofu with some purple grain

Spoiler
I bought purple rice at the Asian grocery store the other day and I have thought only of this stupid Prince parody since then. When I was in college there was this Korean place that had purple rice with tofu soup, and I miss it so bad.
"I've got dreams like you--no really!--just much less, touchy-feeley.
They mainly happen somewhere warm and sunny
on an island that I own, tanned and rested and alone
surrounded by enormous piles of money." -Flynn Rider, Tangled
Quote




User avatar
Ventomology
Gender Female
Points 34788
Reviews 566
Tue Apr 15, 2025 9:36 pm
Ventomology says... · Tue Apr 15, 2025 9:36 pm
16 | 媽媽你有沒有空?

April 5, 1:38 PM
In your last message, you could have dropped the 報到.
天氣預報 implies the verb on its own.
April 5, 1:57 PM
OK.
Are you and dad doing anything tonight?
I have questions for my end-of-semester presentation.


AC on blast because I can’t turn off the heat in my apartment and it’s warm so there’s mosquitoes
It drowns out Psych
(or Murder, She Wrote, or Midsomer Murders, whatever serial mystery I put on)
but Psych was background noise anyway
Computer plugged in, fan a-whir, with seventeen tabs open to Mandarin Wikipedia
as I wait to work
Canva open in another window because Google has one (1) Traditional Chinese font and
Canva has five, supposedly
The type line blinks at me in expectation, white against a dark slide background, a dizzying table of characters
homophones, all
dropped down from the place I left off to stare longingly at my phone
for Mom to respond


April 12, 4:02 PM
Tonight???
You guys doing anything?


Someday my phone will ring and I will see the ‘Mom’ on the screen as it vibrates up my arm
I will answer
And the word will come out like I’ve always used it. Like I’m not fighting for it, texting in English just to know if she has time
喂? 媽媽?
"I've got dreams like you--no really!--just much less, touchy-feeley.
They mainly happen somewhere warm and sunny
on an island that I own, tanned and rested and alone
surrounded by enormous piles of money." -Flynn Rider, Tangled
Quote




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Ventomology
Gender Female
Points 34788
Reviews 566
Thu Apr 17, 2025 3:45 am
Ventomology says... · Thu Apr 17, 2025 3:45 am
17 | Don't Wait

Image

Spoiler
LOOK I wanted to show off my robot. Also it's 10:45 and I gotta go to bed and I was so absorbed in drawing you guys.
"I've got dreams like you--no really!--just much less, touchy-feeley.
They mainly happen somewhere warm and sunny
on an island that I own, tanned and rested and alone
surrounded by enormous piles of money." -Flynn Rider, Tangled
Quote




User avatar
Wolfi
Gender Female
Points 23875
Reviews 521
Thu Apr 17, 2025 8:19 am
Wolfi says... · Thu Apr 17, 2025 8:19 am
Spoiler
WAAOOW bravo on the butterfly robot!!

Poem-wise, for something you whipped up that quickly this still totally resonates with me! Thanks for the little shot of inspiration C: I've been really enjoying your thread!
John 14:27
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.
I do not give to you as the world gives.
Do not let your hearts be troubled
and do not be afraid.

she/her | team monkeys | #unclassified
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35 posts1, 2, 3


Nothing is impossible, for the word itself says, 'I'm possible!'
— Audrey Hepburn