TOPS' SPOT
Alastair Reid, a palindromist in his own right, had this to say about quality palindromes, “The dream which occupies the tortuous mind of every palindromist is that somewhere within the confines of the language lurks the Great Palindrome, a nutshell which not only fulfills the intricate demands of the art, flowing sweetly in both directions, but which also contains the Final Truth of Things.”
I call such palindrome sentences the most insightful. But creators and readers of palindromes alike also consider some of the best representations of our art to be, simply, delightful. So, to populate this section called ‘Tops’ Spot’ I’ve combed through the archives to find 101 of the best (51 most insightful and 50 most delightful) palindrome sentences in the collection:
Ma is as selfless as I am. (Dmitri A. Borgmann)
Bob, solos did mum gig--mum did solos bob. (Timi Imit)
I never defile life, Dr.—even I! (John Pool)
Story a waste; grammar gets away, rots. (John Mc Geady )
Do geese see God? (Victor Lemonte Wooten and/or Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon <per Jon Agee>)
Doc note, I dissent; a fast never prevents a fatness—I diet on cod. (Peter Hilton)
Cigar, toss it in a can, it is so tragic. (J.A. Lindon)
Red rum’s total: a tot’s murder! (Bill A.O'Connor)
Are we not drawn onward, we few, drawn onward to new era? (Leigh Mercer)
Madame, not one man is selfless; I name not one, madam. (published by Howard W. Bergerson)
“Do orbits all last?” I brood. (Michael Donner)
Rise to vote, Sir. (originator uncertain)
He won’t fight a math gift now, eh? (Craig Fowler)
Ere we were here, we were. (Joaquin and/or Maura Kuhn)
Tell a body, "Do ballet." (Allan Miller)
Wonder erases order: non-red roses are red now. (Anthony Etherin)
Ere hypocrisies or poses are in, my hymn I erase; so prose I, Sir, copy here. (Leigh Mercer)
Able was I ere I saw Elba. (Charles Bombaugh in Gleanings <1867>)
Meg saw one rock core now as gem. (Timi Imit)
Er, I fondle her as late petals are held—no fire. (J.A. Lindon)
Niagara, O roar again! (Leigh Mercer)
Gods send a madness: dog. (Joaquin and/or Maura Kuhn)
No-no is: I’ve let a television on. (Jim Beloff)
Resume so pacific a pose, muser. (Leigh Mercer)
Mother Eve’s noose we soon sever, eh Tom? (Leigh Mercer)
Dennis, Eve saw Eden if as a fine dew, as Eve sinned. (Easley Blackwood)
Even in Eden I win Eden in Eve. (J.A. Lindon)
Partner, Eves ever entrap. (J.A. Lindon)
I, man, am damned—I am a maiden madman, am I? (Nora Baron)
Revered now I live on—O did I do no evil, I wonder, ever? (published by Howard W. Bergerson)
Evil I did dwell; lewd did I live. (historical—Borgmann published with, ‘I did/did I’ reversed…)
Name no lad o’ God a lone man. (Derek Chin)
‘Deliver no evil’, sides reversed, is ‘live on reviled.’ (Leigh Mercer)
No, demerits tire me, Don. (Easley Blackwood)
Evil, all its sin, is still alive. (Barbara Kingsolver)
Eve damned Eden (mad Eve!) (Arthur Cyril Pearson Twentieth Century Standard <1907-8>)
Draw, O Caesar, erase a coward. (Leigh Mercer)
“No!” risks iron. (Joaquin and/or Maura Kuhn)
Red now, Asia is a wonder. (Word Ways )
Bosnia gasps again—sob! (Tom Deneau)
Ed, is Nina May a man inside? (Nora Baron)
“Ya, Signor, war is, Sir, a wrong,” I say. (Timi Imit)
As USA gassed Odessa, gas USA. (Bill A. O’Connor)
Evil odes (or prose) do live. (unknown)
Lives drown in words evil. (Craig Hansen)
Ned, I am now a won maiden. (1899)
Now, sir, a war is never even—sir, a war is won! (Craig Hansen)
Partake ESP, seek a trap. (Derek Chin)
Sad, I’m sad as Midas. (@ http://beta.sulekha.com/blogs/blogdisplay.aspx?cid=4312)
Too fat, so Lana lost a foot. (Bill A. O’Connor)
‘God as all!’—I saw it, felt it, left; I was ill as a dog. (Cornel B. Ormsby)
================
Gate-man sees name, garage-man sees name-tag. (Leigh Mercer)
‘Tis in a DeSoto sedan I sit. (John Kamb)
No, Ed, I get a hotel Bible to hate: Gideon. (Timi Imit)
Stressed was I, sad, alas, to order a redroot salad as I saw desserts. (T.P. O’Brien)
Cigar Tom made ting in a can, ignited ammo—tragic! (Tim S. Smith)
Satan, oscillate my metallic sonatas! (Tony Augarde)
Go hang a salami, I’m a lasagna hog. (title of a Jon Agee book of palindromes)
T.Eliot (top bard) notes putrid tang emanating, is sad; I’d assign it a name, “gnat dirt upset on drab pot-toilet.” (Alistair Reid)
Eva can ignite virtuosos out riveting in a cave. (reported by John Jensen)
“Nella’s bosom, signor—it’s a cast-iron gismo!” sobs Allen. (Nora Baron)
Re hypocrisy: as I say, sir, copy her! (J.A. Lindon)
Stop, murder us not, tonsured rumpots! (published by Howard W. Bergerson)
Straw—no, too stupid a fad; I put soot on warts. (Leigh Mercer)
Eva wondered, “No pier?” ere I pondered, “No wave?” (J.A. Lindon)
Fleecing niggard notables, Nita’s a tinsel, baton-dragging, nice elf. (published by Howard W. Bergerson)
No Misses ordered roses, Simon. (Enavlicm McIlvane, The Eastern Enigma <1912>)
Sex, I’ll oblige, Gil, bollixes! (Timi Imit)
Nude, lucid, I ridiculed U.N. (Nora Baron)
God’s asleep, Arden, as nine mown women, insane, drape Elsa’s dog. (Bill A. O’Connor)
No, Mel Gibson is a casino’s big lemon. (Don Tabat)
Vanna, wanna ‘V’? (Mike Griffin)
Ed, I saw Harpo Marx ram Oprah W. aside. (GAMES magazine contest (10/91)--unnamed Honorable Mention)
E. Borgnine drags Dad’s gardening robe. (Mark McCarter)
Drat Saddam: mad dog, a Cain, a man, a canine, Sir, arisen in a can, a maniac, a goddam mad dastard! (Nora Baron)
Did Joe kill like OJ did? (Rick Gehrenbeck)
God, Lee H. Oswald, I'm amid law, so heel dog! (John Kamb)Desrae, her nude idyll at a fetish site, fatally died--unrehearsed. (Martin Clear)
My gym taxes sex at my gym. (Stephen Chism)
Kobe erases old ads as Dad loses a Reebok. (John Kamb)
"Cain, a motor erotomaniac was Eve," said I as Eve saw Cain (a motor erotomaniac.) (Easley Blackwood)
"Dale--it's a pastie, lad." (Craig Hansen)
"Dog food lid", sides reversed, is "dildo of God" (John Kamb)
“Delia ... with Gino tonight!" I wailed. (Martin Clear)
Note bra—bar bet on? (Win Emmons)
Pot not felt, as it is at left, on top. (Derek Chin)
Pupils spot ZZ Top’s slip-up. (John Kamb)
Sib Anna cottons not to cannabis. (Win Emmons)
Deb, best I move rug--if I am "gin enigma," I figure vomit's ebbed. (Timi Imit)Too tragic to pass a pot cigar—toot! (Derek Chin)
Rewards rot in a janitor’s drawer. (Derek Rochelle)
Madam, it is in Eden I sit—I’m Adam. (Nora Baron)
No, I save on final perusal—a sure plan if no evasion. (Leigh Mercer)
Some medic I use damned God as sad Ogden made suicide memos. (John Kamb)
Naive pals lap lager--regal pals lap Evian. (Gregory Tulonen)
Naw, I’m a drowsy man—I gave not one vagina my sword (am I wan!) (William Cooper)
“Lass, bossy Ada wonders if fat Sid’s distaff is red nowadays,” sobs Sal. (Nora Baron)
No, son, Onanism’s a gross orgasm-sin—a no-no, son! (Neil/Fred (Piccotto)'s List of Palindromes on the Web)
Flat penis is inept, Alf. (John Cooper)
Norah’s pure venom: “Is Simon ever up Sharon?” (Bill A. O’Connor)
Mirth (self-rehearsed irony, no?) rides Rae, her flesh trim. (Martin Clear)
(If you find one of your favorites not here, please let me know by emailing Timi Imit here.)