Doug Skinner: An Archive on Your Gizmo

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Entries Tagged as 'R'

The Rat Wins!

January 16th, 2024 · No Comments

The Rat Wins! is now available from Black Scat Books! Writer Lucien Descaves and illustrator Lucien Laforge were anarchist activists dismayed by World War I. They cooked up this mordant little satire, pointing out that the real winner of any war is the rat, who feasts on all the corpses–with the suggestion that war profiteers […]

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Tags: *Words · R

Rhyming Haiku

October 27th, 2021 · Comments Off on Rhyming Haiku

The syllabic constraint of haiku calls for the additional constraint of rhyme. Here are seven examples: Look at all the salt Sprinkled on my frosted malt It’s the waiter’s fault You thought it great sport To commit a grievous tort I’ll see you in court What is this I found Just lying here on the […]

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Tags: *Words · R

Remember Me

December 1st, 2019 · 2 Comments

A three-part round. Everyone wants to be remembered.

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Tags: *Music · R

Rhymed Haiku

September 15th, 2019 · 2 Comments

I add yet another formal constraint to the roster. Rhymed haiku observe the strict 5-7-5 syllable count of traditional haiku, but add rhymes. Here are seven examples: Look at all the salt Sprinkled on my frosted malt It’s the waiter’s fault You thought it great sport To commit a grievous tort I’ll see you in […]

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Tags: *Words · R

The Royal Touch

January 21st, 2018 · 1 Comment

Here, as an appetizer, is the beginning of “The Royal Touch,” from my upcoming collection The Snowman Three Doors Down. Our story hinges on a dilemma: which is better, leprosy or scrofula? THE ROYAL TOUCH King Theobald hobbled to the throne, and, setting aside his crutch, sank slowly onto the cushions. Stroking his beard with his […]

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Tags: *Words · R

The Renaissance Faire

August 28th, 2017 · Comments Off on The Renaissance Faire

A song about that peculiar American institution, the Renaissance Faire. Here, as usual, is the beginning. You can find the whole song in The Doug Skinner Songbook, coming soon from Black Scat Books, and you can listen to it on my album That Regrettable Weekend.

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Tags: *Music · R

Reading Alphonse Allais

April 30th, 2017 · Comments Off on Reading Alphonse Allais

The book blog Wuthering Expectations has commented on my translations of Alphonse Allais from time to time. You’ll probably want to read those posts, which you can do over here.

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Tags: *Words · R

Roomhorn

July 25th, 2016 · 1 Comment

I’ve wanted to build something like this for years. After some experimentation with materials and dimensions, I settled on 20 feet of 1/2 inch copper pipe. I originally wanted it to go around the whole room, but 20 feet seems to produce the best tone. It now hangs near the ceiling in my music room. […]

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Tags: *Music · *Sketchbook · R

The Razor

June 28th, 2016 · 1 Comment

Here’s another excerpt from Sleepytime Cemetery (available, remember, from Black Scat Books). An attempted suicide turns to slapstick, all in ABAB quatrains. This is how it begins… THE RAZOR I laid a razor at my wrist, So I would be no more. I closed my eyes, and sneezed, and missed, And dropped it on the […]

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Tags: *Words · R

The Raven Unrhymed

September 21st, 2015 · 3 Comments

Although Poe’s poem “The Raven” is a nice piece of work, it is rather insistent with its rhymes. Therefore, I’ve removed them for your reading pleasure. I’ve fixed the whole poem, but I’ll post only the first two stanzas. THE RAVEN UNRHYMED Once upon a midnight gloomy, while I pondered, weak and sleepy, Over many […]

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Tags: *Words · R