Sunday, May 22, 2011

Can you make sense of this poem

oil tel duh woil doi sez
dooyuh unnurs tanmih essez pullih nizmus tash,oi
dough un giv uh shid oi sez.    Tom
oidoughwuntuh doot,butoiguttuh
braikyooz,datswut eesez tuhmih.    (Nowoi askyuh
woodundat maik yurarstoin
green?    Oilsaisough.)—Hool
spairruh luckih?    Thangzkeed.    Mairsee.
Muh jax awl gawn.    Fur Croi saik
ainnoughbudih gutnutntuhplai?
                                                       HAI
yoozwidduhpoimnuntwaiv un duhyookuhsumpnruddur
givusuhtoonunduhphugnting

Post your thoughts in the comments.  I'll post an analysis in a few days.

10 comments:

  1. At first glance it looked like a bunch of gibberish to me! But as I read it aloud i see some familar words such as "oidoughwuntuh doot butoiguttuh" which is "i dont want to do it but i got to". And "datswut eesez tuhmih" is "thats what he said to me". I get the feeling that this person is either foreign, uneducated, drunk (or maybe all three) being forced into something they dont want to do. He mentions a man named Tom that he maybe complaining to that is going throught the same situation as he. Im interested in what this is actually about now!

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  2. The most interesting part to me seems to be the punctuation... If you pronounce the words out loud you can tell that it is someone talking, written phonetically, but in addition to the spelling, which seems to be specifically to confuse people, the punctuation is really strangely arranged. There seems to be a lot of extra spaces between words and phrases, which I think is meant to make the poem seem disjointed, as if it is about someone who doesn't speak English that well. Also, it says " Thangzkeed. Mairsee." and when I read that I at first though that the first word looked like "thanks" or thank you," and then realized that the second word sounds like "merci" which is French for thank you. That also adds to the aura of a foreigner's perspective on english.
    -Anais

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  3. I'll tell you what I see
    Do your manners utters the trash can, I
    don't want to give in or see. Tom
    I don't want to go toots, but I got to
    brake, oh, that's sweet and sleezy to me. (Now I ask you, wouldn't make you're a stolen coin green?
    I'll say so.)—How about spare lunch? Thanks again. May I see.
    My, Jack has gown. For Christ sake
    I ain't gonna do that, got it?
    HI
    you little pie microwave TV and duh you see utters
    I'll give you some of the putting

    HAH! That was really fun

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  4. I tried to translate it and it reminds me of a card game. There are a lot of words I'm pretty sure are wrong but this is how my poem goes:

    I'll tell the world I says,
    do you understand me he says,
    pulling his mustache,
    I don't give a shit, I says.
    Tom doesn't want to do it,
    but I gotta break you,
    that's what he says to me.
    (Now I ask you, wouldn't that make your arse turn green? I'll say so.
    Who'll spare a lucky?
    Thanks. Merci.
    My jacks all gone.
    For Christ sake anybody got nothing to play?
    You with the permanent wave,
    and the you because someting or other gives a toon and a something.

    Hmmm... It's not even close to Simones.

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    Replies
    1. I think that's close. A couple of edits I would make:

      "Tom, I don't want to do it..."
      "Thanks, kid."
      "... ain't nobody got nothin' to play? HEY youse with the permanent wave and the uke-somethin-or-other: give us a tune on the fuckin' thing!"
      [note that uke should be pronounced uke-eh, as in, the beginning of ukelele... a word that the speaker can't fully remember, and so calls it uke-eh-something-or-other. The speaker is a somewhat intoxicated American GI in a post WWI bar in Paris, being a bit loud and a bit obnoxious, and in typical "clueless American" fashion, completely oblivious to the cultural norms of his environment.]

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  5. It is very confusing at first when you read it, but if you read it outloud, words start to form and you can make sense of it a little bit. Maybe that is the overall purpose of this poem. At a first glance it makes no sense, but if you look deeper you can find some meaning to it. I tried to translate it but all the words seemed to have some kind of accent, like a foreigner. This could also connect to an immigrant's struggle to be recognized for who they are as a person rather than what languege they speak or what country they come from.

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  6. ^ for some reason it wont let me put my name...but its from Liz

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  7. I kind of liked the idea that Rylee had about it being a drunk person talking. The way that the words are all run together and obviously the fact that they aren't spelled right kind of goes along with this. Also I thought the content of the poem backed this idea up as well. The profanity and the sort of leaving out of important parts of his story make it seem like the speaker isn't entirely there when he's saying this.

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  8. I'll tell the world I says
    do you understand me as he's pulling his moustache,I
    don't give a shit I says. Tom
    I don't want to do it, but I got to
    break youse,that's what he says to me. (Now I ask you
    wouldn't that make your arse turn
    green? I'll say so.)—Who'll
    spare a Lucky? Thanks kid. Merci.
    My jack's all gone. For Christ sake
    ain'tnobody gotnothin'toplay?
    HEY
    yousewiththepermanentwave and theukeorsomethingorother
    giveusatuneonthefuckin'thing

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  9. i'll tell the world i says
    do you understand me he says pulling his moustache
    i don't give a shit i says Tom
    i don't want to do it but i got to
    break yours thats what he says to me (now i ask you wouldn't that make your r's turn green? i'll say so) whole pears are luck? thanks kid. merci
    regects all gone. for christ sake
    you with the permanent wave under you could some rudder give us a toon forgetting

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