George Lang
@xerxesxerxes.bsky.social
Ancien doyen des arts #uOttawa | Erstwhile wine merchant | Known to versify | PwP That’s neurons in the banner
SOLEMN (Palindrome)
I sat, solemn.
I saw time open one poem.
It was in me, lost as I.
I sat, solemn.
I saw time open one poem.
It was in me, lost as I.
January 3, 2026 at 7:27 AM
Reposted by George Lang
“1939 is gone—
and good riddance… Moving on…
Oh, it left a bitter sting.
What will 1940 bring?
War, a raging hurricane…
The whole world has gone insane…”
In an era much like ours, Alexander Voloshin remembers a happier New Year’s Eve:
bdralyuk.wordpress.com/2025/12/30/b...
and good riddance… Moving on…
Oh, it left a bitter sting.
What will 1940 bring?
War, a raging hurricane…
The whole world has gone insane…”
In an era much like ours, Alexander Voloshin remembers a happier New Year’s Eve:
bdralyuk.wordpress.com/2025/12/30/b...
December 31, 2025 at 3:26 PM
“1939 is gone—
and good riddance… Moving on…
Oh, it left a bitter sting.
What will 1940 bring?
War, a raging hurricane…
The whole world has gone insane…”
In an era much like ours, Alexander Voloshin remembers a happier New Year’s Eve:
bdralyuk.wordpress.com/2025/12/30/b...
and good riddance… Moving on…
Oh, it left a bitter sting.
What will 1940 bring?
War, a raging hurricane…
The whole world has gone insane…”
In an era much like ours, Alexander Voloshin remembers a happier New Year’s Eve:
bdralyuk.wordpress.com/2025/12/30/b...
F among the Consonants
To the pewter tines of you as cap
I prefer your curves in small case longhand,
gathered and cinched at the crux of your lap
then unknotted at your command.
***
Another in my series #MerciRimbaud pour ces quelques consonnes.
To the pewter tines of you as cap
I prefer your curves in small case longhand,
gathered and cinched at the crux of your lap
then unknotted at your command.
***
Another in my series #MerciRimbaud pour ces quelques consonnes.
December 22, 2025 at 6:29 AM
F among the Consonants
To the pewter tines of you as cap
I prefer your curves in small case longhand,
gathered and cinched at the crux of your lap
then unknotted at your command.
***
Another in my series #MerciRimbaud pour ces quelques consonnes.
To the pewter tines of you as cap
I prefer your curves in small case longhand,
gathered and cinched at the crux of your lap
then unknotted at your command.
***
Another in my series #MerciRimbaud pour ces quelques consonnes.
Para alguém como eu, que é apenas ligeiramente disléxico, isto é um verdadeiro desafio. Parabéns ! 🙏🏼
December 20, 2025 at 6:02 AM
Para alguém como eu, que é apenas ligeiramente disléxico, isto é um verdadeiro desafio. Parabéns ! 🙏🏼
Today's Latin lesson:
Rege expulso spes fidesque virorum liberorum rem publicam continebunt.
(With the king expelled, the hope and faith of free men will hold the republic together.)
Rege expulso spes fidesque virorum liberorum rem publicam continebunt.
(With the king expelled, the hope and faith of free men will hold the republic together.)
December 14, 2025 at 10:33 PM
Today's Latin lesson:
Rege expulso spes fidesque virorum liberorum rem publicam continebunt.
(With the king expelled, the hope and faith of free men will hold the republic together.)
Rege expulso spes fidesque virorum liberorum rem publicam continebunt.
(With the king expelled, the hope and faith of free men will hold the republic together.)
Dedicated to my Uncle Davo, a specialist in tethering, kites, Cajun music, and to boot an all around great mensch.
December 13, 2025 at 1:18 AM
Dedicated to my Uncle Davo, a specialist in tethering, kites, Cajun music, and to boot an all around great mensch.
A concrete poem, per the theory I concocted on them, lo so many years ago (1979): alteritas.net/GXL/wp-conte...
This one has contemporary implications
This one has contemporary implications
December 8, 2025 at 12:00 AM
A concrete poem, per the theory I concocted on them, lo so many years ago (1979): alteritas.net/GXL/wp-conte...
This one has contemporary implications
This one has contemporary implications
An Ode to the Cessna 172.
“Another bush pilot I had flown with in Liberia told you had to be an idiot to die in one. He explained how you could even crash land by keeping your cool up to the very end so that you could steer into a copse between tree trunks….”
alteritas.net/GXL/?p=4228
“Another bush pilot I had flown with in Liberia told you had to be an idiot to die in one. He explained how you could even crash land by keeping your cool up to the very end so that you could steer into a copse between tree trunks….”
alteritas.net/GXL/?p=4228
Ode to the Cessna 172
I met this bush pilot in Guyana, the former British colony on the coast of South America. He flew five of us up to the falls at Kaietur, where the plateau extending from the Guiana Highlands breaks…
alteritas.net
November 30, 2025 at 4:44 PM
An Ode to the Cessna 172.
“Another bush pilot I had flown with in Liberia told you had to be an idiot to die in one. He explained how you could even crash land by keeping your cool up to the very end so that you could steer into a copse between tree trunks….”
alteritas.net/GXL/?p=4228
“Another bush pilot I had flown with in Liberia told you had to be an idiot to die in one. He explained how you could even crash land by keeping your cool up to the very end so that you could steer into a copse between tree trunks….”
alteritas.net/GXL/?p=4228
Reposted by George Lang
Reposted by George Lang
20 LETTERS
In these twenty letters,
we try ten lines. The test
set, we tether sly intent.
We net the stint tersely.
We intently test ethers.
We try the silent tenets—
try the new, tense titles.
Written, the steely nest
settles twenty therein.
We enter its tenth style.
In these twenty letters,
we try ten lines. The test
set, we tether sly intent.
We net the stint tersely.
We intently test ethers.
We try the silent tenets—
try the new, tense titles.
Written, the steely nest
settles twenty therein.
We enter its tenth style.
November 16, 2025 at 7:26 AM
20 LETTERS
In these twenty letters,
we try ten lines. The test
set, we tether sly intent.
We net the stint tersely.
We intently test ethers.
We try the silent tenets—
try the new, tense titles.
Written, the steely nest
settles twenty therein.
We enter its tenth style.
In these twenty letters,
we try ten lines. The test
set, we tether sly intent.
We net the stint tersely.
We intently test ethers.
We try the silent tenets—
try the new, tense titles.
Written, the steely nest
settles twenty therein.
We enter its tenth style.
Swift on Struldbruggs:
When they came to fourscore years, which is reckoned the extremity of living in this country, they had not only all the follies and infirmities of other old men, but many more, which arose from the dreadful prospect of never dying.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Struldb...
When they came to fourscore years, which is reckoned the extremity of living in this country, they had not only all the follies and infirmities of other old men, but many more, which arose from the dreadful prospect of never dying.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Struldb...
November 14, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Swift on Struldbruggs:
When they came to fourscore years, which is reckoned the extremity of living in this country, they had not only all the follies and infirmities of other old men, but many more, which arose from the dreadful prospect of never dying.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Struldb...
When they came to fourscore years, which is reckoned the extremity of living in this country, they had not only all the follies and infirmities of other old men, but many more, which arose from the dreadful prospect of never dying.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Struldb...
A thoughtful reader’s contribution to a debate which deserves attention: the academic publishing “racket”
digitaleditionapp.ft.com/i9DX/nlhpe1xh
digitaleditionapp.ft.com/i9DX/nlhpe1xh
Financial Times
News, analysis and comment from the Financial Times, the worldʼs leading global business publication
digitaleditionapp.ft.com
November 13, 2025 at 4:45 PM
A thoughtful reader’s contribution to a debate which deserves attention: the academic publishing “racket”
digitaleditionapp.ft.com/i9DX/nlhpe1xh
digitaleditionapp.ft.com/i9DX/nlhpe1xh
Dolphins share waves with surfers at Rincon!
YouTube video by Surfline
youtube.com
November 6, 2025 at 7:01 AM
A brilliant topical palindrome. Use a translator if you don’t get it !
November 5, 2025 at 5:25 AM
A brilliant topical palindrome. Use a translator if you don’t get it !
Turn not your eyes, leaves though they be,
to dazzle or blaze. Live off not light but light
transformed, simple, eccentric, stoic in the sun.
to dazzle or blaze. Live off not light but light
transformed, simple, eccentric, stoic in the sun.
October 19, 2025 at 3:33 PM
Turn not your eyes, leaves though they be,
to dazzle or blaze. Live off not light but light
transformed, simple, eccentric, stoic in the sun.
to dazzle or blaze. Live off not light but light
transformed, simple, eccentric, stoic in the sun.
"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron." - H.L. Mencken, 1920
October 14, 2025 at 3:13 PM
As a public service I offer this brief wiki note on Hitler’s Storm Troopers. Any similarity with the current configuration of ICE is maybe not accidental.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturmab...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturmab...
Sturmabteilung - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
October 11, 2025 at 7:16 PM
As a public service I offer this brief wiki note on Hitler’s Storm Troopers. Any similarity with the current configuration of ICE is maybe not accidental.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturmab...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturmab...
Had a surprise lunch with Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah today. He is a scholar, a poet, and an academic administrator par excellence. Wiki him to see.
So many memories from Edmonton, the African Literature Association, and our shared networks of friends and colleagues. We’ll be meeting again, Inshallah!
So many memories from Edmonton, the African Literature Association, and our shared networks of friends and colleagues. We’ll be meeting again, Inshallah!
October 7, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Had a surprise lunch with Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah today. He is a scholar, a poet, and an academic administrator par excellence. Wiki him to see.
So many memories from Edmonton, the African Literature Association, and our shared networks of friends and colleagues. We’ll be meeting again, Inshallah!
So many memories from Edmonton, the African Literature Association, and our shared networks of friends and colleagues. We’ll be meeting again, Inshallah!
Sit still during earthquakes,
better to see what breaks.
This shudder of Gaia
comes like an idea….
October 3, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Sit still during earthquakes,
better to see what breaks.
This shudder of Gaia
comes like an idea….
I’m grateful to have two haiku in the inaugural number of the Berlin-based e-journal Big Fat Toad. The list price is $4.95. It’ll get delivered via email
October 1, 2025 at 9:09 PM
I’m grateful to have two haiku in the inaugural number of the Berlin-based e-journal Big Fat Toad. The list price is $4.95. It’ll get delivered via email
I don’t subscribe to the New Yorker so can’t read Shteyngart’s actual piece, but it did remind me of a poem I wrote in 1977.
Please forgive my piggy-backing, but the coincidence was almost too much to bear:
alteritas.net/pastis/inven...
bsky.app/profile/shte...
Please forgive my piggy-backing, but the coincidence was almost too much to bear:
alteritas.net/pastis/inven...
bsky.app/profile/shte...
September 24, 2025 at 4:05 PM
I don’t subscribe to the New Yorker so can’t read Shteyngart’s actual piece, but it did remind me of a poem I wrote in 1977.
Please forgive my piggy-backing, but the coincidence was almost too much to bear:
alteritas.net/pastis/inven...
bsky.app/profile/shte...
Please forgive my piggy-backing, but the coincidence was almost too much to bear:
alteritas.net/pastis/inven...
bsky.app/profile/shte...
Seems like a good moment to evoke again Mandelstam’s “Stalin Epigram”. The poem hit home, enough to have cost him, not a job rather a three year exile, which was followed by his death in the Gulag.
At least Stalin had fat wormy fingers, not little penile ones ;-)
At least Stalin had fat wormy fingers, not little penile ones ;-)
September 19, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Seems like a good moment to evoke again Mandelstam’s “Stalin Epigram”. The poem hit home, enough to have cost him, not a job rather a three year exile, which was followed by his death in the Gulag.
At least Stalin had fat wormy fingers, not little penile ones ;-)
At least Stalin had fat wormy fingers, not little penile ones ;-)