SQUANDERED (an intro to Galleta)

There are two styles my friend, BERT UGALINO invented: “Galleta” and “Amilyn”.

Galleta is like a symphony of poems. The trick is to make the lines of one poem “combinable” to the lines of the second (or third and fourth, depending on how complex your Galleta you want to be). The form is like…

Poem 1
AAA
BBB
CCC
DDD

Poem 2
EEE
FFF
GGG
HHH

And the symphony:

AAAEEE
BBBFFF
CCCGGG
DDDHHH

Amylin on the other hand are verses that would still have meaning when read backwards through the lines. Something like:

AAA
BBB
CCC
DDD

DDD
CCC
BBB
AAA

I've done two pieces of Galleta in my native language and this would be my third.

(Poem 1-normal 4x4)

"Collateral"

On the road to perdition
Where too, I see the
Unbearably awful sight
Of dead children

They were innocent souls
All passively devoured
Leaving only their
Unfulfilled dreams

They were all scattered
In the cruel wilderness
Strived for their dreams
In scuttled time…

Oh so horribly
They had to give in
Now, sheer masses of dust
Without hope, without use



(Poem 2 - an Amilyn)

"Rotten Warriors"

I found the warriors,
Reeking and rotten flesh
After the tedious struggle
In the battle field…

In the battle field,
After the tedious struggle
Reeking and rotten flesh
I found the warriors…

Like strewn fallen leaves,
They start to decay…
Without a fair fight,
They lost their lives!

They lost their lives
Without a fair fight.
They start to decay
Like strewn fallen leaves!



And the symphony:


On the road to perdition, I found the warriors,
Where too, I see the Reeking and rotten flesh
Unbearably awful sight after the tedious struggle
Of dead children in the battle field…

They were innocent souls in the battle field,
All passively devoured after the tedious struggle
Leaving only their Reeking and rotten flesh
Unfulfilled dreams, I found the warriors!


They were all scattered like strewn fallen leaves,
In the cruel wilderness they start to decay
Strived for their dreams without a fair fight,
In scuttled time, they lost their lives!

Oh so horribly, they lost their lives
They had to give in without a fair fight.
Now, sheer masses of dust, they start to decay
Without hope, without use, like strewn fallen leaves!



Now try it.. ^_^