How to use this Page

#5 in an ongoing series of posts celebrating the alphabet.

     
    photo by kazenka03

Happy Spring!!

It's finally here! We've got sunny blue skies and daffodil shoots coming up. The birds are singing and busy building nests. Flocks of robins have been touching down in the back yard, on their way north after long winter vacations. Slowly but surely, nature is awakening -- time to dust off cold, dark days, and shake things up.

That's why I've invited 26 of my closest friends to help us celebrate today.

All winter long, they've been lying around like this:

photo by obsessed scrapbooker

But now, they want to go outside and play -- with anagrams!

With a little letter rearranging, you can discover hidden meanings in words. They say anagrams never lie. They contain provocative bits of wisdom and are sometimes wonderfully magical. Besides, letters love it when you toss them around and mix them up. Let's get the party started.

Here are some ice breakers:

Postmaster = Stamp Store
The eyes = they see
Mother-in-Law = Woman Hitler
Western Union = No wire unsent.

What about:

Poetry Friday  = Ready for pity.
Poem = mope.
William Shakespeare = I am a weakish speller.

Uh-Oh. I see a negative pattern developing.

Instead, how about a nod to the lovely Elaine Magliaro of Wild Rose Reader, who is hosting the Roundup today?

Elaine Magliaro = Agile Ear Oilman.

You must admit, she's great at making up funny-sounding words and tuning up our poetic and political sensibilities. Recently, she started a new blog called Political Verses, where she posts humorous poems about people in the news who drive you crazy. It feels so good to vent!

Perhaps, then, we should go with this one:

Elaine Magliaro = I am a genial role.

No doubt, she would appreciate, George Bush = He bugs Gore.

The other day, while browsing a Billy Collins anthology (loony bloats chillingly), I discovered this cool poem by Peter Pereira. It's playful on the outside, serious on the inside, and provides a new spin on the transforming power of poetry. It's pretty clever word-jinks, and does, indeed, make me wonder how I could rearrange my own life even just a little, to find my true path.

ANAGRAMMER
by Peter Pereira


photo by obsessed scrapbooker

If you believe in the magic of language,
then Elvis really Lives
and Princess Diana foretold I end as car spin.

If you believe the letters themselves
contain a power within them,
then you understand
what makes outside tedious,
how desperation becomes a rope ends it.

(Rest is here.)

Time for dessert:

I couldn't help myself (it's spring, after all, and too much fun). I anagrammed all 7 of the Poetry Princesses, who wrote an awesome Crown of Sonnets last April. I'll leave it to them to decide whether these reveal any hidden truths:

Elizabeth Garton Scanlon = brazen lethal contagions (?)
Kelly Fineman = leafy men link
Tricia Stohr-Hunt = ah hit instructor, or, runtish hit actor
Laura Salas = Aural salsa (she speaks Spanish?)
Cloudscome = close um, doc
Tanita S. Davis = a distant visa
Sara Lewis Holmes = a wireless shalom

As for me?

Jama Kim Rattigan = I am a jam tart king!

photo by minimallyinvasivenj

Okay, okay, since I like you, you can have one.

And, Alphabet Soup = A Potable Push or Spatula Be Bop!

P.S. For all the non-believers, who ask me, "Why all the fuss over soup?", here's my answer:

Every day, I look into my kettle, and find this:


But after stirring things around a little, I can sometimes create this:


Moral: Alphabet = Able path.

P.P.S. chocolate = cool cheat
          editor = redo it
          publisher = Lib Pusher

Somebody, stop me!

If you want to anagram some more, try this website, or this one! Warning: it's very addictive :).

Don't miss the Anagram Hall of Fame, which lists all the ones Mr. Pereira used in his poem!

For more alphabetica, click here.

Certified authentic alphabetica, handmade just for you with love and a decided passion for wordplay.