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Thursday, May 8, 2025

Snarkstitutes! A Bigly Bestiary

"For the snark was a boojum you see."
                                      -- Lewis Carroll

Live precious few who, pressured to 
recall their fav'rite lark, 
would favor us with answer thus:
"Mine's hunting of the snark." 
Instead, these days, knights errant trace
grotesques of diff'rent race:
  

 
Acephalus 
 
Mythical acephali, headless, display their
facial features  across their torsos. (N.B.: having no head does not imply having no hair.)

What fool'd forget each pain, each fret, 
each almost-fatal sally
he sweated besting, then arresting,
awful acephali...?
(Remember'd, too...? Each sharp review
of Grampa's Rand McNally.) 
 
 




Bishop-fish 

Sycophants kowtowing to legendary bishop-fish are urged to purchase Bibles, autographed by these creatures, at a small discount. 

Who'd not confess each strain, each stress 
(though kvetching's not their wish)...? 
Their wont...? Explore the ocean floor
for beastly bishop-fish --
which, serv'd with chips on pirate ships,
most mates pronounce, "Delish!")
 






Chromandi 

Sharp-fanged monkey-like men who, insists  Pliny the Elder, roam urban jungles, are covered in blond hair and, tho' claiming "the best words," routinely resort to screams.

No reb'd mislay his trebuchet.* 
Such weaponry proves handy
when, marching forth, one dead-heads north
to capture cru'l chromandi, 
whose practiced art's to grab gals' parts --
their modus operandi

*In the US, read "...forget his trebuchet."
 


  


Djinn 

Supernatural beings encountered in medieval Arab traditions, these devilish spirits are shapeshifters, often held captive in bottles of many kinds and, released, wreak global havoc.

A young'un (three -- too gung ho...? Oui!),
I took it on the chin:
the Kids' Krusade! (Mistakes were made 
when disembow'ling djinn.) 










Echidna 

Living alone in a gated temple and worship'd by people of the nearby land, the half-snake Echidna bears numerous monstrous offspring.

Though now she's dead, I've often read 
of one (d'ya think I'd kid ya...?) 
who grabs her truncheon after lunch 'n'
slays ten men: Echidna!
(To best avoid this mongoloid,
each man of wit stays hid, huh...?)
 
 




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