Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
  • Mood: busy

Poem: "Palimpsest Candy"

This poem came from the February 8, 2011 Poetry Fishbowl.  It was inspired and sponsored by janetmiles.

Many of you probably know the quoted poem as "Twas the Night Before Christmas."  Here I've used the author's original title.

Palimpsest Candy


"A Visit from St. Nicholas"
was written in rhymed couplets
so compelling and memorable
that it soaked into the culture:
visions of sugarplums
danced in their heads
long after the children
had left Earth behind
and along with it
both sugar and plums.

Tags: cyberfunded creativity, fishbowl, food, holiday, poem, poetry, reading, science fiction, writing
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  • 6 comments
eseme

eseme

February 11 2011, 02:01:39 UTC 10 years ago

That is a great commentary on language. We have so many of those expressions that stay around long after the original phrase no longer has cultural meaning.
ysabetwordsmith

Thank you!

ysabetwordsmith

February 11 2011, 02:12:46 UTC 10 years ago

I love fossil phrases like that. I imagined a conversation going something like this...

Child: "What's a sugarplum?"
Mom: "It was an Old Earth treat made from sugar and plums -- that is, refined sucrose and a type of purple fruit."
Child: "Wasn't refined sucrose sort of toxic?"
Mom: "Well, yes ... it took people a while to figure that out."
Child: "Eeewww."
Mom: *sigh* "Just imagine it a dried whatselberry instead."
Child: "Mom, 'whatselberry' doesn't scan."
Mom: *SIGH* "Hence the sugarplums."
Child: "Okay. Can we read A Christmas Carol next?"
Mom: *facepalm*
eseme

Re: Thank you!

eseme

February 11 2011, 02:47:18 UTC 10 years ago

Ha!

I love that dialogue.