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Monday, 9 January 2023

the statistics of poetry - Fokkina McDonnell

​I bought it for 5 Euro in De Bijenkorf,
this Rijmhandboek: practical guide
for the writing of poems and small songs

page 73 gives us the thirty most poetic
words in the Dutch language dreaming / dreams
heads up the list which ends with lost

silent   pain   singing   wind   moon   sea   grass
fire   roads   night   dog   blood   poem   song
forgotten / forget   sun   longing   trees   dream   face   dying
sorrow   with   lap   down    light   past    death

the statisticians of language did a simple
calculation life / live is six times more frequent
in poetry than in prose death fourteen times

dood is a great deal more poetic than leven

Fokkina McDonnell (20th century) The Netherlands (lived in England for several years)
Source: Harana Poetry issue 7, Spring 2021

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