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Count All the Stars (Free verse) by TLRufener
I sit quietly, Here in the dark. Peering out the window, I count all the stars. I’ll wish on every one, Until you come back. You left me here, Alone and sad. You left the world behind, And went on to a better place. I’ll sit here and wait, For your return. You said you’d come back, And take me in your arms. Now I sit in the window sill, And count all the stars. Until I’m no longer lonely, And you hold me in your arms.

Down the ladder: here now today

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Votes: (green: user, blue: anonymous)
 GraphVotes
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Arithmetic Mean: 4.857143
Weighted score: 4.96158
Overall Rank: 8539
Posted: December 6, 2005 2:07 PM PST; Last modified: December 6, 2005 2:07 PM PST
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Comments:
[6] zodiac @ 212.38.134.51 | 7-Dec-05/6:05 AM | Reply
Let's try another approach.

GOOGLE CLICHE COUNT
"I sit quietly" = 20,700
"Sit in the dark" = 123,000
"Peering out the window" = 19,300
"Count all the stars" = 623
"Wish on every one" = 190
+ "Wish on every star" = 769
"Until you come back" = 126,000
"You left me here" = 33,400
+ "You left me alone" = 27,700
+ "You left me sad" = 1,830
"You left the world behind" = 249
"Went on to a better place" = 786
"Sit here and wait" = 47,400
"For your return" = 566,000
+ "Sit and wait for your return" = 125
"You said you'd come back" = 590
"Take me in your arms" = 120,000
"I sit in/on the windowsill" = 119
"Count all the stars" = 623
"I'm no longer lonely" = 580
"You hold me in your arms" = 20,100
[6] zodiac @ 212.38.134.51 | 7-Dec-05/6:19 AM | Reply
In the interest of fairness, here's Caducus' most recent post:

"I was your Abilene dream" = 0
+ "I was your dream" = 357
"Your rainy Chelsea thoughts" = 0
+ "Your rainy thoughts" = 1
"The moisture on your fingers" = 49
"midnight moon Prince" = 53
"I was your IPOD lyrics" = 0
+ "I was your lyrics" = 29
"You cantered through suits" = 0
"Breathless even then" = 21
"Before we ever touched" = 390
"You were my serpent" = 1
"My scent of apples" = 0
"Eve slept against my rib cage" = 0
"Knowing the end was near" = 492
"We met in Coventry" = 7
"Both becoming flesh" = 1
"Trains spat diesel" = 0
"Was it a ghost" = 1,160
"Taxi to a Hotel bar" = 4
"Lips betrayed minds" = 0
"Nerves brined my palms" = 0
"Whenever you breathed" = 39
"We left for Texas engaged" = 0
+ "We left for Texas" = 195
"Broth of your mothers mouth" = 0
"Stirred the cauldron of my tongue" = 0
"Promises were made" = 107,000
"Ring became a rock" = 0
"Rock became sand" = 10
"Sand became time" = 0
"Time impaled her heart" = 0
"Left me deaf and blind" = 68
"Waiting for a train" = 167,000
"That brings new lovers" = 1
+ "Brings new lovers" = 2
"Her wailing ghost" = 3
[5] cyan9 @ 217.40.63.105 > zodiac | 7-Dec-05/6:58 AM | Reply
Ere zodiac, does this cliche counter actually exist, or would it not make a good website? i find it hard to believe that anybody could be bothered to type all of this out, but on the otherhand I cant find it on google.
[n/a] Dovina @ 69.175.32.104 > cyan9 | 7-Dec-05/2:42 PM | Reply
I'll have to give him credit for this unusual display of documentation for his usually exterporaneous arguements. I believe he actually copied each of these lines from the poem and placed it in Google's Advanced Search, under "Exact Phrase" and hit "Search." The total number of sites containing that line becomes his basis for cliche rating.
[6] ALChemy @ 24.74.101.159 > Dovina | 7-Dec-05/4:20 PM | Reply
Most likely but did you know that you don't have to go into advance search to do that. Just put it in quotation marks (""). It works on most any search engine.
[n/a] Dovina @ 69.175.32.104 > ALChemy | 7-Dec-05/4:54 PM | Reply
Yep. Either way's about as easy.
[6] ALChemy @ 24.74.101.159 > Dovina | 7-Dec-05/5:20 PM | Reply
One's alot quicker though.
[5] cyan9 @ 217.40.63.105 > ALChemy | 8-Dec-05/1:25 AM | Reply
I could knock a script up to do this, and get it to learn from the results relatively easily, then you could just copy and paste the piece. Either that or I could populate a dictionary, perhaps inserting whole poems at a time. In fact I might stick it on my website.
[6] zodiac @ 69.132.67.140 > cyan9 | 9-Dec-05/12:33 AM | Reply
Dovina and AlChemy are correct, except that I also googled phrases which were close or got to the gist of the image/connection/whatever - ie, "You left me here, alone and sad" => "You left me alone" + "You left me sad" + "you left me sad and alone" + "You left me alone and sad". I imagine the problem with making an automatic cliche counter would be getting it to do that, to search "Went to a better place" or "Went on to a better place" instead of "And went on to a better place", for example. That's easier for us, we already know what the cliches are. Ideally, an automatic cliche counter would also have to correct bad grammar, since that seems to go hand-in-hand with cliche on this site. The numbers, as you've guessed, are the number of google hits, roughly. I can only find one other GOOGLE CLICHE COUNT on poemranker's Search-o-Mat, but I'm sure there have been more, probably with more user-friendly formats.

Naturally, GOOGLE CLICHE COUNT is only a very rough indicator of clicheness and, Dovina's snarky assessment notwithstanding, not meant by me as any real measure. (Though in its defense, notice that it managed to pick out Caducus's biggest cliches, "Promises were made" and "Waiting for a train". Incidentally, this doesn't mean that Caducus's poems are great, only that they're comparatively less cliche.) In deference to Dovina's sensibilities, I've at least decided that posting a TOTAL CLICHE COUNT at the end is unfair and unnecessary. So bite it, Dovina.
[n/a] Dovina @ 69.175.32.104 > zodiac | 9-Dec-05/6:40 PM | Reply
"In deference to Dovina's sensibilities": Staggering about laughing whilst punching keys and sipping wine is not conducive to . . . trying to bite, trying, ok, done.
[5] cyan9 @ 217.40.63.105 > Dovina | 8-Dec-05/1:27 AM | Reply
But what would inspire a man to do all that?
[6] zodiac @ 69.132.67.140 > cyan9 | 9-Dec-05/12:36 AM | Reply
Boredom. And it's faster than you think.
[6] zodiac @ 69.132.67.140 > cyan9 | 9-Dec-05/12:40 AM | Reply
ie, Note the timestamps on the two CLICHE COUNTS above. I did them one-after-the-other.

If you're speaking generally - it's surprisingly hard to make people believe they're cliche. Usually you tell them and they're just like "I've got to live my own life" or "I am alone amidst a crowd" or "FREEEEEEEEEDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!"
[5] cyan9 @ 217.40.63.105 > zodiac | 9-Dec-05/2:47 AM | Reply
Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn!
[6] zodiac @ 69.132.67.140 > Dovina | 9-Dec-05/12:35 AM | Reply
You misused credit, display, documentation, extemporaneous, and arguments. What's your deal lately? Are you becoming Irrish?
[5] cyan9 @ 217.40.63.105 | 7-Dec-05/6:47 AM | Reply
I have to agree with zodiac here. You've exhibited line after line of phrases that are used commonly to beg for sympathy or to dwell in pity, and so I think that justifies zodiacs complaint.
[5] wilco @ 24.92.74.122 | 7-Dec-05/9:01 PM | Reply
It's not good, it's not bad...it's just mediocre.
[5] Angelicasassy @ 72.40.4.69 | 5-Feb-06/7:27 PM | Reply
I liked it. A bit elementary but still good.
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