For May’s Per Diem feature on The Haiku Foundation website Carlos Colón has selected poems written as tributes to fellow haiku poets, but without indicating who the recipient of the tribute is. We challenge you to identify the poet being honored today, May 4. Read the Per Diem poem, then send us the name of who you think is the honoree in the comment box below. All recipients, and identifiers, will be revealed at the end of the month. Good luck!
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“Hi Carlos,
I’m the winner – New Zealanders always come out ahead of Australians! 🙂
(That’s why they need to claim *our* winners – pavlova, Phar Lap, Russell Crowe, Crowded House, so on and etc – as their own!!) ” – Sandra
Provocation with the intent of inciting violence?
One thing Kiwis come first in the whole world in: the suicide rate of young men.
– Lorin
“Perhaps the more important contention is the spelling of gallah/galah. Jennifer and Sandra, please check with Patricia Prime, come to a conclusion, and let Stella, Jim Kacian, and I know which spelling is proper for [the] THF app. Thanks. – Carlos”
‘galah’ is the correct spelling.
And there is supposed to be a big difference between a ‘gala event’ and a ‘galah event’, though contemporary television & film awards footage seems evidence to the contrary 🙂
The slang sense, when applied to people is not so much ‘idiot’ in the strict meaning of that term (as wikipedia would have it), but more like ‘bloody idiot’, or ‘lair’ :
“The noun lair, meaning `one who displays vulgarity, esp. in dress or behaviour; a show-off; a larrikin’ was in use by the 1920s as in C.E. Sayers, Jumping Double: A hit behind the ear from one of those back street lairs. And it remains in use today, often in the collocation mug lair, applied to someone supposed to be both stupid and vulgar, as in the description published in The Australian in August 1982 of a particular Carlton half-forward flanker as `a mug lair and a show pony.’ ”
http://andc.anu.edu.au/australian-words/meanings-origins?field_alphabet_value=171
Galah : Fool, or ‘show-off’, one who draws attention to himself (usually ‘himself’, but herself is certainly not impossible )through loud behaviour, bragging or conspicuous dress. It’s essentially a term of ridicule. But like many other strong-sounding Australian negative slang or vernacular expressions, it can be intended affectionately. It all depends on tone, the context and who’s speaking to whom.
There is nothing affectionate about calling someone “a mug lair and a show pony”, though! 🙂
( I missed the actual haiku! Will have to look it up in the archives.)
– Lorin
Thanks Carlos.
Sandra, Phar Lap may have been foaled in NZ but he was trained in Australia.
As far as Russell Crowe is concerned, you can have him.
IMO he hasn’t made a good film since Romper Stomper 🙂
Hi again Carlos,
I have notified Jim but thought I would post here too … Pat would like to alter her haiku to “galah”.
Cheers,
Sandra
PS Watched an episode of CSI recently where “Elvis” was found dead outside a casino! Say it isn’t so!
Hi Carlos,
I’m the winner – New Zealanders always come out ahead of Australians! 🙂
(That’s why they need to claim *our* winners – pavlova, Phar Lap, Russell Crowe, Crowded House, so on and etc – as their own!!)
This poem was written for Janice Bostok. I’ll let Jennifer Sutherland and Sandra Simpson determine who is the winner, since there are no prizes. Jennifer posted first on the correct web page, but Sandra posted yesterday on (I assume) the May 3rd challenge.
Perhaps the more important contention is the spelling of gallah/galah. Jennifer and Sandra, please check with Patricia Prime, come to a conclusion, and let Stella, Jim Kacian, and I know which spelling is proper for [the] THF app. Thanks. – Carlos
Sandra is right.
The correct spelling is Galah (derived from an aboriginal word) .
My grandmother had a pet Galah called Dickens.
He was a funny bird. I was quite fond of him especially after he bit my brother 🙂 .
Today’s poem, May 4.
The only one i can think of is Bill Higginson.
(Sorry, posted this yesterday under the wrong option, before this link was up)
I’m guessing Janice Bostok with the reference to what I suppose to be galah (an Australian bird). I haven’t seen it spelled “gallah” though, so may be way off-beam.
My Dad used to talk about young men “behaving like bloody galahs” as the birds are supposed to be bits of clowns and do daft things. Jan had a real streak of comedy in her and her timing was spot on.
Jan Bostok