Friendly Friday photo walk & Day Five: Misheard villanelle

52
Written by Manja Maksimovič

Today my first villanelle of a poem and a Friendly Friday photo walk around Ljubljana with my sister on a lovely October day.

First, I wish to say that despite my angry sonnet yesterday, I have loved all the NaPoWriMo prompts so far (except yesterday’s, that is). I look forward to each new one. Today I get to write my first villanelle with such a complicated structure that I had to read three to get it. Exciting!

Also I love mash-ups of all sorts. The favourite I’ve done features selected English and American poets vs. Jim Morrison (pure mash, without any added content).

As I read what we were about to do, I immediately thought of two song lyrics that I had memorised a long time ago. They don’t contradict each other, rather they blend together well, and this is the only point where I won’t follow directions.

As I checked the second one online to see if I’d memorised it correctly, I had a bit of a shock. I’ve been hearing and singing it wrong all these years. Sorry, Aussies, I just had to keep my wrong lyrics in. Only in the last stanza I used the correct words. (But the last line is purposefully wrong again.) Have a look.

Challenge Five: “Write a poem that incorporates at least one of the following: (1) the villanelle form, (2) lines taken from an outside text, and/or (3) phrases that oppose each other in some way.”

Misheard
 
Women know and men wonder.
 What is it that
 the men don’t know but the little girls understand?

 Better be gone than be right.
 Is this what
 women know and men wonder?

 Listen to the sound of the howling wind.
 You might guess what
 the men don’t know but the little girls understand.

 Can you imagine how angry it makes them?
 A simple fact that
women know and men wonder.

 The truth of the night.
 We claim it. It's ours. This is what
 the men don’t know but the little girls understand:

 “I’m a back door man
 living in a land down under
 where women glow and men plunder.
 The men know but the little girls don’t understand.”

As I told my sister recently, we have the shaman’s disease and when we are 70 and 77 years old, we will have a travelling sister act called Shamanina and Shamanya. Can’t wait.

Until then we are catching moments, and the day of the photo walk around our city of origin, Ljubljana in Slovenia, which I have chosen for Snow Melts Somewhere’s Friendly Friday photo challenge, was one such. To many more!

And finally, today I happened to open my own yesterday’s post on my phone instead of my laptop which I usually use for blogging, and was appalled to find not one, not two, but THREE WordPress ads in one post. I mean, really? All were for cashing in on my blog. “Double your income!” If my income is 0, doubled wouldn’t improve the situation much, would it?? Are you seeing that in every post?

  • My sister invites you to follow us along the Jakopič Promenade in Tivoli Park with paintings from the National Gallery of Slovenia for its 100th anniversary.
  • “The men don’t know but the little girls understand.”
  • “Women know and men wonder.”
  • Restored Švicarija house and restaurant.
  • On the inside.
  • Švicarija restaurant. Remains to be tried.
  • Where do they get their mushrooms, I wonder.
  • Important new Roswell info on this link.
  • On the other side: “Let’s hear you.” Ominous.
  • He seems chill.
  • A primordial fish. (Not.)
  • Ivan Cankar, the greatest Slovenian writer, presiding. A popular point for locals on top of Rožnik above Tivoli Park. He loved getting drunk here.
  • The pink Rožnik church.
  • It’s more than an hour later. He woke up.
  • This reminds me of dog meetings with my first dog Žak.
  • I love this view. In the winter much sledding goes on here.
  • Ai shiteru yo not.
  • “If you hear this the same as your read it, something is wrong with your hearing.”
  • The year is 1933.
  • Slovenian House Figovec and Slovenian food: radicchio with potatoes and cracklings, sausage with sauerkraut, barley risotto with asparagus.
  • The newly built and highest Hotel InterContinental.
  • The view from the top. My Ljubljana.

For Friendly Friday Photo Challenge hosted by The Snow Melts Somewhere

Created with Adobe Spark

and for Day 5 of NaPoWriMo

NaPoWriMo

ADD-IT: Only today I have learned that over at the dVerse ~ Poets Pub they celebrate the villanelle this month so I’ve thought to link my first ever there as well. Looking forward to reading some by others when I have a moment. This poetry month means business.

52 Comments

    1. Thank you, Oloriel, it was fun to do it. 🙂 I was reading your About me today, and loved it, and then happened upon the part where you say that you live in Belgrade. 😀 I’m Slovenian (and about one eighth Serbian). Are you Serbian? Doesn’t change a thing, I only found it funny because I didn’t see it coming…

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

  3. I adore the idea of paintings in the park ❤ Those old tile-stoves are pretty, we also have many of them in old buildings in Finland. Even some apartment buildings in Helsinki still have the original stoves, I would love to own an apartment with one but as you can imagine, they are very expensive.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. Thank you, Suvi. I will make another post one day with just the paintings. They were splendid, only of Slovenian painters. Oh, my sister has a stove like this in her home, it was there when we bought it. I don’t think it has ever been lighted though.

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

  5. Do you miss your Ljubljana? (Look at me, I even know how to spell it now, thanks to your posts!) The “women know and men wonder” photo makes me laugh – he certainly looks a bit confused (masking it in a manly way trying to look wise). I love that Down Under song – but must admit I never paid attention to the lyrics (except the part about the Vegemite sandwich). As for ads, I don’t see any on yours, but on my own I do! 😀

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

      2. Well, I will tell you a secret if you don’t spread it around ( pun intended, ha!) I actually hate it. I can smell it a mile away if the lid is left off in the kitchen. It is awful! LOL. Some Aussie, hey?

        Liked by 2 people

    2. Hehe, SMSW, you’re goood! 😉 First you learn to spell it, then you arrive! Thank you, I’m glad you like it. I was so happy to see it in the autumn colour scheme for the first time after 5 years. I miss it, sure, but I miss my people more. One more month and we go there again. 🙂 I had to google Vegemite. 😀 I see Amanda has a question for you about it. 😉

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  7. I am impressed you know our unofficial National Anthem, Manja! I think every Australia knows those lyrics and changes them to rhyme with chunder/plunder/wonder/asunder or whatever they like! Do you know the controversy over that song and how it has send the singer bankrupt? the photo caption, “Ai shiteru you not!!” is classic Manja and gave me a early morning belly laugh.A great way to start the day. Was that a disused Nato nuclear bunker [Roswell], I see? Loved the Autumn leaves photos in the park and the ornate wooden balustrade on Restored Švicarija house and restaurant. You do entice me to visit Slovenia more and more. It is always such a delight to visit your blog, and NB no sight of any ads anywhere!

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

    1. Oh, Amanda, I don’t know anything about that! I know I could google it but please, tell me in short. I’ve known this song from the start and always enjoyed it. That’s why I was so amazed to learn the correct lyrics today. That bunker is not NATO, maybe left by the Yugoslav army. I’m glad you had a chuckle and that you’re enticed to visit. We never know such things. 🙂 Thank you and always welcome!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. Any Australian worth his salt, knows the tune back to front. I don’t know if you have noticed, but in the vocals break within the song, they used a ditty played by a flute – part of this flute riff of “Down Under” was copied from “Kookaburra” a song originally written in 1932 by a woman who died in the eighties. The rights to the kookaburra song was generally thought to be in the public domain. Unfortunately the rights were bought by a US company 28 years after the release of Down Under, and who sought damages due to copyright infringement and won. This has bankrupted the band, Colin Hay (lead singer) and the flautist. Colin Hay’s has stated the legal challenges and copyright issues contributed to the death of his father and the flautist, Greg Ham. To me, it was simply an opportunity for the new owner to make a grab for money from a successful band and song. The personal fallout was immeasurable. Colin Hays has since recorded the song again, without the kookaburra flute jingle. It is awful state of affairs to think that copyright issues could have such a financial and personal impact whilst another person who contributed nothing to either song, gets rewarded by the courts. But good to know that the song still lives on in people’s minds the world over. We still love the song and Colin Hays!

        Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you so much, Merril! 🙂 Oh, I discovered dVerse same time last year already but haven’t posted there since, except about a month ago when I wrote my first pantoum. I love learning new things about poetry and trying them out. Always welcome!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  11. No, no ads. Just lots of great photos, plus your clever poem.

    Sorry to tell you – as a dinkum Aussie – the words have obviously been tidied up a bit since the original, which claimed that here Down Under ‘men roar and women thunder’.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  12. I love this! Lyrics.com has surprised me quite a times with songs I’d misheard. And your photos are magnificent. Putting a visit on my bucket list.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  14. I like the way you have quoted one of my favourite Australian songs here. Your interpretation is very creative. As an Australian I always thought that the word ‘glow’ was used in the old fashioned Australian sense that it is a polite way of saying sweating. As for the plundering I thought it was about the men working in the mines. Seeing it as a men exploiting women is a great interpretation that fits with the times we live in.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  16. Pingback: Lens-Artists PC: Art in the park – Manja Mexi Moving
  17. Pingback: Friendly Friday Future – Manja Mexi Mexcessive
  18. Pingback: Day Five: Human reserve & April 2020 – Manja Mexi Mexcessive
  19. Pingback: Day Six: Hopeful – Manja Mexi Mexcessive
  20. Pingback: Day Five & Last photo of March – An Embarrassment of Riches

Leave a reply to Maggie C Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.