The Wordsmith's Forge

Mohegan, Algonquian or Algic? How to tell which Algonquian language people are teaching.

In this article I will address the language family of which Mohegan-Pequot or Mohiks1 is a part. I will talk a bit too much about different groups, subgroups, and even why these groups are as they are.2 Finally I'm going to briefly address the problem that has me writing this with a simple solution on what to do about it.

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When your dog obsessively reads their P-mail even after doing their business. 

A floodle is a giant puddle that forms in a low spot on relatively flat land. In some areas, they may only last a few hours or days, but in others they can last for weeks or even months. It depends on the soil composition, water table, and whether or not more rain falls. They can be natural, or because of human foolishness.

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This poem came out of the March 19, 2024 Bonus Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from helgatwb. It also fills the "Woodworking" square in my 3-1-24 card for the National Crafting Month Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by Anthony Barrette.

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A Different Stroke is a multilingual gift exchange open to all languages and fandoms.

Fandom is, in our experience, a very anglocentric community and while it’s awesome that this gives us the opportunity to read and write fics from and for people from all over the world, we should also get to celebrate other languages and share them with our friends.

People have expressed interest in deep topics, so this list focuses on philosophical questions.

How much does language affect our thinking?

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Amateurmind -- the opposite of mastermind, someone who does things in a simplistic and foolish manner. 

Multipotentiality is an educational and psychological term referring to the ability and preference of a person, particularly one of strong intellectual or artistic curiosity, to excel in two or more different fields.

It can also refer to an individual whose interests span multiple fields or areas, rather than being strong in just one. Such traits are called multipotentialities, while "multipotentialites" has been suggested as a name for those with this trait.

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Yep, that's me. The hell of it is that I often know things that supposed experts don't, even in my worst fields. But mostly, I like being a generalist with a lot of random knowledge and multiple areas I'm damn good in.

This poem was written outside the regular prompt calls. It fills the "Decline and Fall" square in my 1-1-24 card for the Public Domain Day Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by janetmiles.

Warning: This poem and its links focus on disturbing things about mainstream America, including economics and politics, which are likely to enrage some readers.

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The Poetry Fishbowl is now CLOSED. Thank you for your time and attention.

Starting now, the Poetry Fishbowl is open! Today's theme is "short forms." I will be checking this page periodically throughout the day. When people make suggestions, I'll pick some and weave them together into a poem ... and then another ... and so on. I'm hoping to get a lot of ideas and a lot of poems.

I'll be soliciting poetic forms of 60 lines or less, so basically below my epic range rather than only the short-short length of 10 lines or less. Free verse below the length limit is also fine. Here are 15 short forms with descriptions. Among my favorite short forms not listed there: hexaduad, indriso, sestina, villanelle. This list of 168 forms is alphabetical. Poets Garrett has my favorite list of forms, including a list of repeating-interlocking forms. Their main page has links to poetic forms of 3-10 lines. Plus a few of my own: A darrow poem is a short, haiku-like musing by dark elves. A khazal is a Whispering Sands desert poem in couplets. A moose track is a repeating-interlocking form. A tweet wire is a tiny 10-line poem designed for Twitter. Some short forms, like haiku and tanka, work well as verses in a longer poem. I have The New Book of Forms by Lewis Turco so most forms should be in there. You can also prompt with a link to any exotic form you find; I collect these things.

In addition to forms, I also need topical prompts. One-word or short-phrase framing will assist in keeping them small enough to fit within the theme. Here is a huge list of common themes. This page of idioms has alphabetical and topical listings. I love writing poems about an individual word; see The Phrontistery (WARNING! Black hole caliber time sink ahead!) for glossaries or this list of untranslatable words. Have an orientation that is not well represented in literature? Ask for a sexual, romantic, or other orientation! If it's not on any of my lists, just include a description or link to one. I also list gender identities and my characters with disabilities. Want to help me play with my bookshelf? :D I have The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows and would love to write poems about many of its words. (I'm up to page 8, so anything 9+ is available. See the 2023 Holiday Poetry Sale for previous examples.) I also have The Conflict Thesaurus, The Occupation Thesaurus, The Emotional Wound Thesaurus, The Urban Setting Thesaurus, The Rural Setting Thesaurus, The Emotion Thesaurus, The Positive Trait Thesaurus, and The Negative Trait Thesaurus. Simply click "Read Sample" and view the table of contents for a list of cool ideas. You can prompt a sestina with six end words; I usually pick 5 short flexible words and one long exotic word, but I'll work with whatever I get. Favorite characters, threads, series, settings, etc. are also fair game but this is NOT the time for long plotty prompts. Consider combining a name or title with a short form, theme, or idiom. If you like to prompt with photos, this is a great opportunity for that. Just type in a topic (see above for possibilities) and click the Image link in your favorite search engine.

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