Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Pleasure Dough?

...with apologies to Samuel Taylor Coleridge
  (+25)(+25)(+25)
(+25)
  [vote for,
against]

In Xanadu did Jutta Khan
A pastry pleasure-dome decree :
Where Alf, the sacred baker, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to the halfbakery.

So half five miles of fertile ground
With categories girdled round :
And there were annotations bright,
Where blossomed much half-baked theory ;
And here was Sealy, ancient as the hills,
Shouting “Baked!” aloft a cynic’s eyrie

But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted
Down that doughy icon athwart a flaky cover!
A savage place! as holy and enchanted
As e'er beneath a baker’s moon was haunted
By a woman wailing for her demon-lover!
And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
As if this bread in fast thick pants were breathing,
A mighty brainstorm momently was forced :
Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst
Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail :
And 'mid these prancing dolts and flakes
It flung up momently the sacred cakes.
Five miles meandering with a mazy annotation
Through wit and pun the sacred baker ran,
Then reached the caverns measureless to man,
And sank in tumult to a lifeless ration
And 'mid this tumult jutta heard from far
Newbie voices prophesying war!

The shadow of the HB dome
Floated o’er the baker’s cousin
Where was contrived the adopted home
Of many a bold half-baker’s dozen

It was a miracle of rare device:
A sunny pastry-dome with caves of vice!
A damsel with a dulcimer
In a vision once I saw :
It was a blissmissinian maid,
And on her dulcimer she played,
Singing of the halfbakery
Could I revive within me
Her symphony and HB song,
To such a deep delight 'twould win me,

That with music loud and long
I would build that dome in air,
That sunny dome! Those caves of vice!
And all who heard should see them there,
And all should cry, Beware! Beware!
Their flashing wit and pedantic air!
Weave a circle round them thrice,
And close your eyes with holy bread,
For they on half baked dough hath fed,
And drunk the milk of Paradise.

goff, Jan 30 2002

For comparison http://eserver.org/...try/kubla-khan.html
[angel, Jan 30 2002, last modified Oct 21 2004]

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       Kubla Khan't?
angel, Jan 30 2002
  

       Beaut
thumbwax, Jan 30 2002
  

       Dylan Thomas next please, he's Welsh
po, Jan 30 2002
  

       [jutta], [PeterSealy] and [blissmiss] are the only ones mentioned. I'm not entirely certain that's adequate.
phoenix, Jan 30 2002
  

       Where can I find these "caves of vice"?
pottedstu, Jan 30 2002
  

       You are an angry man GTR.
mcscotland, Jan 30 2002
  

       *SIGH* Looks like the person from Porlock's here. (Coleridge deletes Porlock's user account and restores entire poem from backup tapes.)
pottedstu, Jan 30 2002
  

       Applause, goff. Nicely done.   

       I've just about had enough of dear Georgie here.
waugsqueke, Jan 30 2002
  

       Croissants and plaudits all round goff. I want to give this two or three bready breakfast buns, but you shall have to settle for one!
The_Englishman_Abroad, Jan 30 2002
  

       [GTR] it's like this - you see this category is ideas for a Half-bakery song (and also poems as you will note, and no I don't think we should make jutta create another category just for poems). Therefore, I have put up my idea for a half-bakery poem (inspired, I must say, by UnaBubba's post on ...ooh I can't remember now...).
You really don't get it do you?
(And you're right, I am very clever, thanks for noticing)
[pottedstu] Well spotted.. correction in the post, as it were...
goff, Jan 31 2002
  

       Oh, well done sir. I fear the hook has been baited and set.   

       He is an ancient Halfbaker,
And he stoppeth one of three.
'By thy acerbic tongue and glittering pate,
Thou must be name'd Sealy?'
  

       The Bakery's doors are opened wide,
And I am just logged in;
The guests are met, the categories set:
May'st the baking day begin.'
  

       One types him with his skinny hands,
'That idea's baked', quoth he.
'Hold off! post links, chrome-dom'ed loon!'
Eftsoons the "Baked" dropt he.
  

       He spears him with his sharpen'd tongue--
The Trolling-Pest stood still,
Then rants just like a three years' child:
The 'baker holds his steel.
  

       The Trolling-pest chokes on 'bones:
He cannot take the strain;
And thus "Baked" on that ancient man,
The bright-eyed Halfbaker.
  

       'The ship was cheered, then cows appeared,
A-lowing at the rail,
Towards the fall, the public thrall,
E'er close the thunderous drop.
  

       Bones rain'd down, right and left,
Out of the sea came they!
A single croissant, lone and bright
The idea-posters say?
  

       Higher and higher pile the 'bones,
Till over the mast at noon--'
The Trolling-pest here beat his breast,
And he becom'st a loud buffoon.
  

       The bride will soon pace into the hall,
Red as a rose is she;
Nodding their heads before her goes
The 'baking cit'zenry.
  

       The Trolling-pest he beat his breast,
And he chooseth not to hear;
And then spake twenty reasoned men,
All longtime halfbakers.
  

       And now the storm-blast came, but he
Was tyrannous and strong:
Though struck about the head with things,
He complain'st about a song.
  

       Then [thumbwax], [ravenswood] and [po],
Removal pursued with yell and blow
[StarChaser] calls a Troll a Troll,
[quarterbaker] shows his hand,
Trolling-pest held fast, chained to the mast,
An unrepentant man.
  

       And now there came [waugsqueke], [T_E_A],
And it grew wondrous cold:
[-alx], mast-high, came floating by,
And [ravenswood], again.
  

       And through the drifts of snowy bones,
There came a dismal wail,
Not care for men nor beasts I ken--
If thou read'st the lines between.
  

       There was [mihali] here, and [CoolerKing],
And [goff] and [NeverDie]:
Then [angel] called out "Loser",
And [thumbwax] reason tried,
,
  

       At length did write our own [Guy Fox],
In accents clear and still,
As if it had been a Christian soul,
Who bore no-one ill will.
  

       It seem'd the effort was in vain,
[TeaTotal] had a go,
[Rods Tiger] couldn't make a dent
The air did spit with acid tones;
Then [lummox] steered right through!
  

       And good [calum] lent his calming voice;
Then [pottedstu] did follow,
And every day, for food or play,
We came to the Troll-pest's hollo!
  

       In mist or cloud, on recent page,
We perched for vespers nine;
Whiles all the night, without respite,
The blithe Troll-pest opines.'
  

       'God save thee, Trolling-pest!
From the fiends, that plague thee thus!
Why look'st thou so?'
With my cross-bow
I'd gladly shoot the cuss!
UnaBubba, Jan 31 2002
  

       Very nice :)
La-La, Jan 31 2002
  

       Would you look at that... he's outdone himself.
waugsqueke, Jan 31 2002
  

       Took him long enough!
angel, Jan 31 2002
  

       Just when we thought UnaBubba was out, goff pulled him back in.   

       Nice work UB. And goff too, t'was a poem of outstanding merit.
CoolerKing, Jan 31 2002
  

       No way am I doing the rest of the poem !
UnaBubba, Jan 31 2002
  

       I think the point is made; everyone but GTT will get it.
StarChaser, Jan 31 2002
  

       Damn Damn Damn Damn and Damn - Wow
thumbwax, Jan 31 2002
  

       hi Star, have you renamed him GT T? oh dear I am slow today. well done.
po, Jan 31 2002
  

       Yes he has
thumbwax, Jan 31 2002
  

       And well named, too.
UnaBubba, Jan 31 2002
  

       UB, the rest of us might as well just turn off our keyboards now. I can't imagine any of us outdoing what [goff] and you have managed to fit to verse. Well done...Very well done.
jurist, Jan 31 2002
  

       [StaChaser] Very good (I am assuming I have red you correctly and that the T refers to another small garden bird whose name also means something else).
However, I have looked up my book of British Birds and I'm afraid their is no 'Small-Brained Tit'. Guess the anology will just have to remain less than perfect...
goff, Feb 01 2002
  

       inspired. Simply inspired.
The_Englishman_Abroad, Feb 01 2002
  

       I was thinking it meant Troll... Which is unlikely to be a bird...
UnaBubba, Feb 01 2002
  

       This is Just to Say   

       I have eaten
the half croissant
that was on
your website
  

       and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast
  

       Forgive me
I threw up on your rug
It was so stale
and fungal
pottedstu, Feb 01 2002
  

       And Wiliam Carlos Williams chimes in for those of us who enjoy poetry in the open form as well...Thanks for the plum of a parody, [pottedstu]
jurist, Feb 01 2002
  

       [George the Robin] If you were clever, you'd get of your medium sized horse, and write a response here in verse. I think the gauntlet has been sufficiently laid down.
Zircon, Feb 02 2002
  

       Goff, remember I'm not British. 'Troll' is the acronym alteration.
StarChaser, Feb 02 2002
  

       "Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!" I shrieked, upstarting: "Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!
Leave my loneliness unbroken! Quit the bust above my door!
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!"
Quoth the Robin, "Nevermore."
CoolerKing, Feb 02 2002
  

       Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious idea left on the cutting room floor,
'Ere I nodded, eyes a-rolling, suddenly there came a tolling,
As of someone foolish trolling, trolling at the 'bakers' door.
"Surely 'tis some cretin," I muttered, "trolling at the 'bakers' door
Only this, and nothing more."
  

       Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
And each separate trolling idea scattered fishbones 'pon the floor.
Eagerly time sought the morrow; -- vainly time I sought to borrow
From these ideas surcease of sorrow -- sorrow for the lost rapport
For the rare and radiant feeling, of the 'bakers arms wide open to all comers, one and all
Foolish hope here, evermore.
  

       And the silken sad uncertain talk of mobile 'phones and merkins
Thrilled me -- filled me with fantastic knowledge I had never seen before; So that now, to still the eating at my mind, I type, repeating
"Piss off, newbie trollster bleating, about the other 'bakers treating you with such harsh comment"
"Remember it was you came beating, up the foment, you're now meeting.
Like some scabrous, pox'ed whore. "
  

       Presently their growls grow stronger; hesitating then no longer,
"Sir," say they, "or Madam, truly your boorishness we abhor,";
But this place has secret polling, and so rudely you came trolling,
And blowhardly you came trolling, trolling this halfbakers' floor,
You seemed quite nice when we first met you" -- when we opened wide the door;
Dumbness there and nothing more.
  

       Deep into that dumbness peering, long we tried, but you weren't hearing,
Doubtless dreaming dreams no sane man ever dared to dream before;
But the spell was now a-broken, and your dumbness gave no token,
And the only word there was spoken...Fishbone !... Fishbone, more and more!"
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back "Fishbone number 34!"
Merely this, and nothing more.
  

       Backs of all the 'bakers turning, indignation within burning,
Soon we heard again a trolling slightly quieter than before.
"Surely," thought I, "surely there is something sensible he has posted now?
Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this new idea explore
Let my heart be still a moment and this new idea explore;
'Tis Real Donkey Kong, and nothing more!"
  

       Upon there I flung a fishbone, and hope to break this trollster's wishbone,
Just to stop this spiteful no-one, with ideas which breach our laws;
Not the least obeisance made he; not a shred of consciene shewed he;
But, with mien of gargoyle shady, perched upon the 'bakery floor
Perched and spewed forth crap so callous, when we thought there surely can't be more?
Perched, and shat, and nothing more.
  

       Then this ebony turd bewailing his idea's sad fate, for failing,
Other's grave and stern decorum, befitting of this learn'ed forum,
"Though thy wings be clipt and shaven, thou," I said, "art surely still too craven,
Ghastly little 'net-troll, raving, o'er and o'er, thine same refrain,
Tell me how The Cheating Game will make the world a better place,
Quoth the trollster, "Shutcha face."
  

       Much I marvelled this ungainly fool to here discourse so plainly,
Though its answer little meaning -- little relevancy bore;
For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being
Ever yet was blessed with being such a crushing, crashing bore,
Falling foul of all and sundry here upon the 'baking floor,
With ideas like "Free Sedatives For Poor."
  

       But the trollster, sitting lonely with his 13 ideas 'bonely,
And one with double croissant, as if his soul in that one idea he did outpour.
Nothing other had he uttered, not a charitable idea he muttered,
That the 'bakers proclaimed, "Another nutter, such as others gone before,
On the morrow he may leave me, less experience deceive us, as others here have flown before."
Still the troll complained of treatment poor.
  

       Startled at the still unbroken string of fishbones in lieu of words unspoken,
"Doubtless," said we, "what it utters is its only stock and store
Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful disaster
Followed fast and followed faster 'til all his thoughts its burden bore
Till the dregs of crap that "Mandatory Reason To Vote No" bore
Oh, please ! Don't post no bloody more" !
  

       But the trollster still reviling all advice and quiet cajoling,
Straight away posts another trolling about a change to 'bakery unwritten law;
Then, with feeling finally sinking, I betook myself to linking
To the Help File, thinking what this ignoramus troll, this geezer
That this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt and ominous trolling miser
Meant in croaking "Breathalyzer"
  

       Thus I sat engaged in guessing, with no inkling yet expressing
Of the foolishness depressing I might find behind that door;
This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining
On the 'bakery's velvet lining whilst I typed this little poem,
'Ere I idly wandered over... And of a sudden things came clearer, reasons seeming ever nearer,
Having read that confessing tome!
  

       Then, methought, he grows but denser, there must be some way to censor,
All this crap that winds us in?
Surely there must be a limit, can we put his light out, or at least dim it?
"Wretch," I cried, "what God hath sent thee -- by what mistake hath he lent thee
Shit for brains, and cruelly bent thee, into this thickskinn'ed shape?
Scoff at [goff], for pointing out thy short points, thou drunken jape",
Quoth the trollster, "You're all wrong."
  

       "Baphomet!" said I, "thing of evil! -- trollster still, if fool or devil!
Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,
Desolate yet all undaunted, on this pleasant land enchanted
On this home by Horror haunted -- tell me truly, I implore
Is there... is there anything in your head? -- tell me -- tell me, I implore!"
But the trollster said no more.
  

       "Moron!" said I, "trolling moron... prophet of the land of Sodoml!
By that Heaven that bends above us... by that God who ought to love us
Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,
Comes a day when thou unbidden render up some talent hidden and join us in this idea midden
Post a rare and funny concept other 'bakers might adore."
The trollster simply yelled and swore.
  

       "Be that word our sign of parting, fool or fiend!" I grow tired of your endless farting
"Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!
Leave no annotation as a token of that lie thou fool hath spoken!
Leave my peacefulness unbroken!...please sir, quit the 'baker's floor,
Take thy head from out thy arse, and darken not the 'bakery door!"
We're sick of you, we want no more.
  

       And the trollster, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
With his poorly written pile of fishboned crap scattered 'neath him,
And his ideas have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming,
Soullessly in endless scheming, and occasionally screaming when his ideas are called poor
I took my mind from out that shadow that obscures his uncaring face,
GeorgeTheTroll, please quit this place !
UnaBubba, Feb 02 2002
  

       [bliss], why the poe-face? <g>
UnaBubba, Feb 02 2002
  

       Take thy head from out thy arse, and darken not the 'bakery door!"   

       this sure aint Wordsworth - but its a UB classic.
po, Feb 02 2002
  

       A chance to add my latest dit   

       No hint of fun or endless wit   

       I love this place, You'd all agree   

       Vote for me? my edless plea!   

       Does it suck or is it cool   

       or fishbone that persistant fool   

       We're all just looking for a vote   

       so here i'll end on that happy note   

       Don't dismiss the strange idea   

       cos in the end.... that's why we're here??!!!
gizmo, Feb 02 2002
  

       wish I could do one of those clever ((((((clap)))))) things!
po, Feb 02 2002
  

       //Tell me how The Cheating Game will make the world a better place,
//Quoth the trollster, "Shutcha face."
  

       I didn't think it'd be possible to improve on a classic like The Raven (half of the reason why I didn't even try). OK, so Poe probably wouldn't approve (even if Po does), but once again you've outdone yourself UB. Do you think he'll get the point yet?
CoolerKing, Feb 02 2002
  

       Giz: I think you're so truly absolutely supercalfrajalisticexpialidoshus....
arora, Feb 02 2002
  

       pedant alert, spelling - arora; Supercallifragilisticexpialidocious
po, Feb 02 2002
  

       fonetic?
arora, Feb 02 2002
  

       prob!
po, Feb 02 2002
  

       [CK], not likely, but I had fun for an hour and a half last night.   

       If you can't beat 'em, spray graffiti on their dogs.
UnaBubba, Feb 02 2002
  

       tsk tsk Mary Po/pinns, it's "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" - no consecutive l's.
thumbwax, Feb 02 2002
  

       It looks as though some of his friends may have arrived.
UnaBubba, Feb 03 2002
  

       [ravenswood], by the time I finish work in the evening, after the late news, the only shows on TV are reruns of Millennium, Letterman and Buffy.   

       Rather than watch TV, 1/2B constitutes entertainment for me for the most part. That one took me about 90 minutes, as I said earlier. Poe's work allows a fair bit of flexibility with metre and rhyme, so it's not too bad.   

       Yes, I have had some poetry published, but that was years ago. Somewhere I have a packing crate full of verse I wrote when I was young and angst-ridden.   

       In this case, the inspiration came from [goff] and [GeorgeDoesDobbin] and his little rant.
UnaBubba, Feb 03 2002
  

       Time well spent
thumbwax, Feb 04 2002
  

       Typical. I finally come up with an idea that gets universal praise, and UB steals my thunder again. Bugger!!
[StarChaser] Obviously I am far too parochial. I just liked the small bird analogy. Obviously you are the one who invented it, but I can't help thinking to myself every time I see GTT that George really is a complete tit (even if he is a Troll as well)
goff, Feb 04 2002
  

       [goff], I would never have done it if you hadn't provided the catalysis of picking over some work by Coleridge.
UnaBubba, Feb 04 2002
  

       Well, to be the inspiration for greatness, there's a thing.
goff, Feb 04 2002
  

       Imitation is the sincerest form of flattening ones ego
thumbwax, Feb 04 2002
  

       Greatness? Where?
UnaBubba, Feb 04 2002
  

       Well everyone else was eulagising about your contributions, UB, so I thought it deserved the adjective.
Lithium-ion is the sincerest form of battery
goff, Feb 04 2002
  

       Adulation is the most common method of pissing in others' pockets.
UnaBubba, Feb 04 2002
  

       I guess I missed most of the GTR thing (good for me). It certainly appears that GTR has served as a puissant muse for poetic efforts.
bristolz, Feb 05 2002
  

       Please, GTR is not Georgie.
georgie, Feb 19 2002
  

       fret not Georgie, or is it georgie (now he was a head case!- only kidding)
po, Feb 19 2002
  

       Well, this all seems a bit one sided, so in the spirit of a good tussle I'm hoping George is composing a response. But in the meantime, in an effort to set the mood of the calm before the storm....   

       George, feeling his brain slip, Finds his every feather the fossil of a murder.   

       Who murdered all these? These living dead, that root in his nerves and his blood Till he is visibly black?   

       How can he fly from his feathers? And why have they homed on him?   

       Is he the archive of their accusations? Or their ghostly purpose, their pining vengeance? Or their unforgiven prisoner?   

       He cannot be forgiven.   

       His prison is the earth. Clothed in his conviction, Trying to remember his crimes   

       Heavily he flies.....   

       ....until.....<<<kettle drums>>>.....
notripe, Feb 19 2002
  

       THE SHAVEN
by Amos Allan Kito
Half a poem. Apologies to E.A.Poe and everybody else :-)
  

       Once upon a time, my dearies,
I returned to check the theories
That I had submitted to half-bakery the night before.
While perusing my collection,
Came the sound of cat ejection
Launching yet another feline into Northern Singapore.
Only this, and then two more.
It was with determination
That I typed my ruminations,
My remaining brain cells dripping,
Dripping in an open drawer.

They’d enjoy my entries now I thought,
This time ‘fer shore’.

So I felt a new elation
Til I read the annotation
“Too insipid, we despise it. And you misspelled pompadour”.
Only fish, and nothing more.
  

       It was causing mucho tension to come up with some invention.
I began perchance to dream and then began, perchance, to snore.
In an hour of fitful naption, rose an aerial contraption,
Alternately filling and deflating bags of gaseous spore.
I awoke, to type some more.
Ozone Piper, Neutron Diaper, Cattle Gripper, Auto-Zipper,
All were great ideas so the “plus” did I hope for.
But I found that I was doom’ed when a member, nicely groom’ed,
Went and dropped another loathsome sign of minus at my door.
  

       Quoth the Shaven, “Albacore”.   

       Though my room is dark and murky,
I troll not, nor do I lurky.
Why then does it seem I never ever get a decent score?
Quoth the Shaven, “Albacore”.
  

       Lost within my heated fever, I was busy as a beaver.
Tapping, pounding out inventions made my metacarpals sore.
Cactus Glider, Pimple Hider, Poodle Cutter, Belly Butter.
Also an idea to protect a Spanish matador.
But I looked to count the cost, and found another Teleost;
The dried-up little bony icon frequently I’d seen before.
  

       Only fish, and nothing more.   

       Yet in time upon my brisket, half a slice of crusty biscuit,
Suddenly appeared, and glowed, and cast my shadow on the floor.
Feeling I was kind of starving, I got up and started carving
On the bread, and got a slice of lemon… wanna know what for?
Quoth the Shaven,
“Albacore”.
Amos Kito, Oct 07 2002
  

       Oh, I just remembered our friend [GeorgeTheRobin], an intemperate fellow if ever there was one.
UnaBubba, Oct 31 2006
  

       Bravo. This should be compulsory reading for all potential halfbakers.   

       Here's GeorgeTheRobin's annos (retrieved from the wayback machine), to help put the other annos in context:   

       Wheres the idea in this? This is a forum for ideas in case you didnt realise. Please read the HELP section in future. [marked-for-deleti*n] reason - not an idea.   

       GeorgeTheRobin, Jan 30 2002   

       "redundant - a very similar idea already exists on the halfbakery" this is a direct quote from the help page saying why an "idea" should be marked for deletion. There are a number of witty/psuedo intellectual word plays already on here , lets get back to something original thanks. [later] note i didnt fishbone this idea , i think its a good poem etc and SO clever of you to come up with this , however according to the help section this is just the wrong place to put it.   

       GeorgeTheRobin, Jan 30 2002
xaviergisz, Oct 31 2006
  

       Loved Amos' take on The Raven. Hadn't seen it before.
DrBob, Nov 01 2006
  


 

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