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More poetry for a Monday:
Origami, Bob Newman
One coloured square of paper has untold
Potential which an expert can release.
Whole zoos for those well-versed in how to fold
One coloured square.
Seals, whales, storks, elephants, bears, monkeys, geese,
And more, can all be made by young and old.
Menageries on your own mantelpiece!
The creatures you can make are manifold.
The size of your collection will increase.
What do you get from each when you unfold?
One coloured square!
Almost all internet sources attribute this to Swinburne, which it patently cannot be. Leaving aside the issues that it sounds completely unlike Swinburne and that it doesn't appear in his collected works, it is anachronistic for a Victorian poet to talk about origami animals that are not traditional Japanese models. (Yes, I did notice this issue first. Origami geek, much?) I think all of these come from a misreading of this page, which correctly cites Swinburne as the inventor of the form. The page does not attribute the sample verse to the site owner, but other on the site, for other forms, do -- so assigning to him with 90% confidence.
Subject quote is because it's an origami poem, that's good enough for me.
---L.
Subject quote from "C Is for Cookie", Joe Raposo.
Origami, Bob Newman
One coloured square of paper has untold
Potential which an expert can release.
Whole zoos for those well-versed in how to fold
One coloured square.
Seals, whales, storks, elephants, bears, monkeys, geese,
And more, can all be made by young and old.
Menageries on your own mantelpiece!
The creatures you can make are manifold.
The size of your collection will increase.
What do you get from each when you unfold?
One coloured square!
Almost all internet sources attribute this to Swinburne, which it patently cannot be. Leaving aside the issues that it sounds completely unlike Swinburne and that it doesn't appear in his collected works, it is anachronistic for a Victorian poet to talk about origami animals that are not traditional Japanese models. (Yes, I did notice this issue first. Origami geek, much?) I think all of these come from a misreading of this page, which correctly cites Swinburne as the inventor of the form. The page does not attribute the sample verse to the site owner, but other on the site, for other forms, do -- so assigning to him with 90% confidence.
Subject quote is because it's an origami poem, that's good enough for me.
---L.
Subject quote from "C Is for Cookie", Joe Raposo.