Univocalic poems (A, E, & I)

This post contains eight univocalic poems (four As, three Es, and one I). This type of poetic constraint requires that only a single vowel be used throughout the entire poem. These poems emulate the style of Christian Bök’s Eunoia. I adhere to the following rules: i) “y” is treated as a vowel (hence it does not appear), ii) a reasonable amount of non-English words are allowed, and iii) consonant-only words are not allowed (e.g. “mhmm” is verboten). The actual process by which these poems were developed is described in this post. NOTE, the output of this exercise is for research purposes only. AI-assisted art should be respectful to the artistic community and should not be used in a deleterious manner.

For the poems below, I provide hyperlinks to some of the proper nouns that may be unknown to the reader in the footnotes, as well as definitions for rare, archaic, or non-English words.



Chapter A (1, 2, 3, 4)

Hassan wants a Taraba smaragd - par an Alabaman savant Afjal, at a grand Samarkand carnaval. Hassan has hands and hanks a scarf (a cataplasm that acts as a Taslan raglan) that can crack apart a lampman's sampan. Can Hassan's damask crafts and flax shawls act as a scarf? Ja man! Hassan's pajamas, pants, and sandals act as a satrap garb, and garn flax hats thwart macaw attacks. Alarm! A Mach hawk-dash draws all wards: pack arms and Hassan's stalwart kaftans. Harass attacks, shaft scabbards and hack at hawks, smash rat mammal carcass trash, and frag cats as dank warts. Aghast at war, a flashback shall pass. Hassan adapts. Allah akbar.


Can Hassan scan a tract arcana and chant spartan mandalas - a Sādhanā - as crass blank paragraph tracts start a dharma Bhakta? Ja, Hassan's an alpha Brahmana à Astana! Hassan jams, an Arab casts a raga, and a Catalan satar harp vamps at a band stand. At a Madrassa's plaza at Annam, alpacas gnaw at alfalfa lawns and Hassan scarfs cha as a snack. Swank pandas, lank and lax, grasp salads and schnapps, hawk ganja, khat, and bhang. A panda barfs, gags, and clasps a jacaranda. Hassan balks at what Hassan saw. Satan’s pharma pranks sap a man's smarts and jam a man's radar. What a fat scandal.


At Lhasa, Hassan attracts a maganda Amandava at a balsa: what amaranth tar, that balsam bark manna. A sandbank avadavat at a tamarack à Atlanta, blasts warm tracks that lack clank and clack, all warmth and sans tat. A black Manx cat phalanx, walks at Awara (Japan) and snarls at trashcans; what snark and sass, what Marat sarcasts. Bahaman sharks flash sharp fangs - what shards - and stalk and trap fat aardvarks that bark (all's sad and fatal). Bantam hatch at warm baths at Panama. A Ghana barn cat marks lath walls at a rampart. At flat Chad, natal scarabs hatch (a swarm). Rwanda, Malta, and Canada, what an atlas!


Hassan, a charlatan, a sham, that scams at blackjack and baccarat, has a bad card pack. Bad Hassan, blasts apart a glass altar, an alabastral arc lamp (Hassan cracks all brass carat astragals). Hassan sacks a Dhaka bazaar, attacks a Kandahar bank, and thwarts a Matalan caravan. Hassan, that bastard Madagascan vagrant (a dastard). A Manhattan pawn stand? Smash! A ballpark plaza? Crash! Hassan gags a Sardar, harms a Pasha, slaps a Shah, and hangs a Maharaja. Hassan, a.k.a Mackandal? Nah, Hassan spawns all land grabs and all badland nabs. Hassan flags an Afghan stash (raw hash), arms a Balaclava gang (pas sans tanks), and has a dank alms drank (Hassan's fatal last gasp).


Chapter E (5, 6, 7)

Whenever Helen feels bereft (she needs jewels), the regent lends her the Schengen express pelf. She gets the newest sheets, the best gels, the freshest refreshments (leverets, peppers, herbs). Nevertheless, she sleeps well whenever she feels tenderness. Except, these rêves let the secret presence, her regret, her resentment, her nether hell, let her dejected self see her wretched mess. She's depressed (decrees her percept). When she re-emerges, she never feels these detested events — even when the dew sheds the tender sheen between the veldt bedecked between the greenest pendent fern beeches.


Helen remembers her pets, her kestrel, her vervet. She feels helpless, her regret éternels, hence Helen begs these men: relent, let me be! Lewd gentlemen greet her weeps: the men belt her, ever retched. Ses ténèbres. Held pressed, she wrestles (helpless). The men enter her deepest recesses. Elle est enfermée en enfer. She seeks revenge. She rends her fetters, fever-bent. She wrecks her keepers, she ends her serpents, she threshes her weeds. Her relentless revenge extends tempest welts, she deletes her nemeses. Bereft, her well-peddle feet flee - temples recede. Helen etches her svelte Greek letters: free.


Whenever the serfs see the Empress Helen, the "perfected" self, the brethren rebel (men feel the need). She sleeps en resplendent fleece bedsheets. Helen seeks perms (whenever). Helen expenses jet (très cher). She seeks the perfect fête. Plebes help her glebes. She ferments rebels: "these helpers reek!" Her depthless elders jeer. The wretches greet her, the rejected sects seek revenge. "Defend me men! Let them feel nettles!" The senescent crewmen flee. She expresses herself, she begs deft Demeter! Nevertheless she beseeches them: Hellenes, revere me! The Greeks cheer, the serpent est éphémères. She trembled, she felt pelts, she fell, ejected between the steep edges. The Greek sentence served.


Chapter I (8)

Ingrid riffs with Siri: chintz, skirts, shirts, bikinis, which fits Ingrid right? Ingrid is living in McGill. Libs with viscid lisping irks Ingrid. Ingrid's with Gingrich! Ingrid kids. Ingrid sights insipid siblings. Ingrid's kin: knitting Brits (Lilith), Kiwis with frigid minds (Idris), biking Finns - victimizing Vikings (Philip), pinching Hindis (Nikki), priggish Swiss (Schmidt). Ingrid's kinks - kissing thighs, wrists, lips, ticklish shins. Diving with Gridr (twinks), flipping with Flickr. Stripping girlish chicks. Ingrid's sins? Drinking Inniskillin, sipping Gin, imbibing spirits blind. I, II, III, ... vingt-cinq, vingt-six, Ingrid's high tippling. Ingrid's misgivings in childbirth: cringing girth with thrilling risks, writhing fits with wringing grips. Ingrid's kids? Ick!



Footnotes

  1. Taraba: A state in India. Smaragd: Danish word for emerald. Cataplasm: another term for poultice (wound bandage). Taslan: A yarn made from a Taslanizing process. Raglan: A type of garment. Sampan: a small boat of a kind used in East Asia. Damask: a figured woven fabric. Satrap: a provincial governor in the ancient Persian empire. Garn: yarn (twisted fibers for weaving). Macaw: a parrot with brightly coloured plumage. Kaftan: a man’s long belted tunic. Scabbard: a sheath for a gun or other weapon or tool. Frag: deliberately kill (an unpopular senior officer) with a hand grenade. Allah akbar: A corruption of the Takbir. ↩

  2. Mandala: a geometric figure in Hindu and Buddhist symbolism. Sādhanā: an ego-transcending spiritual practice. Dharma: (in Buddhism) the nature of reality. Bhakta: (in Hinduism) devotion and love for a personal god. Brahmana: (in Hinduism) compositions about the Vedas. Astana: The capital of Kazakhstan. Raga: (in Indian music) a pattern of notes used as a basis for improvisation. Satar: traditional Uyghur long-necked bowed lute. Vamp: (in jazz and popular music) a short introductory passage. Madrassa: a college for Islamic instruction. Annam: A French protectorate in Vietnam. Ganja, khat, & bhang: Marijuana, the leaves of an Arabian shrub which are chewed as a stimulant, & the leaves and flower heads of cannabis. Jacaranda: a tropical American tree. ↩

  3. Lhasa: The capital of Tibet. Maganda: pretty (in Sambali). Amandava: a type of bird. Balsa: a fast-growing tropical American tree. Amaranth: Any plant of the genus Amaranthus. Balsam: an aromatic resinous substance. Manna: (in the Bible) the substance miraculously supplied as food to the Israelites in the wilderness (Exod. 16). Avadavat: a type of bird. Tamarack: a slender North American larch (tree). Tat: tasteless or shoddy clothes, jewelry, or ornaments. Bantam: a chicken of a small breed. ↩

  4. Alabastral: Having the characteristics of alabaster. Astragal: a small semicircular moulding around a column. Dhaka: The capital of Bangladesh. Matalan: A clothing company. Sardar: a leader (often used as a proper name). Pasha: the title of a Turkish officer of high rank. Shah: a title of the former monarch of Iran. Maharaja: an Indian prince. Mackandal: A famous Haitian. ↩

  5. Schengen: A city in Luxembourg. Pelf: money. Leveret: a young hare in its first year. Rêves: dreams. Veldt: open, uncultivated country or grassland in southern Africa. Beech: a large tree. ↩

  6. Kestrel: a small falcon. Vervet: a common African monkey. Éternels: Eternal. Ses ténèbres: her darkness. Enfermée en enfer: locked in hell. ↩

  7. Très cher: very expensive. Fête: party. Plebes: (in ancient Rome) a commoner. Glebe: land or fields. Demeter: A Greek Goddess. Hellene: an ancient Greek. Est éphémères: is fleeting. ↩

  8. Chintz: printed multicoloured cotton fabric. McGill: A Canadian university. Viscid: glutinous; sticky. Insipid: lacking vigor or interest. Kiwi: a New Zealander. Inniskillin: A winery in Ontario, Canada. Tipple: drink alcohol, especially habitually. ↩

Written on January 26, 2023