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Tuesday, April 3, 2018

Clues (A Nonsense ABC Expressed as a Crambo)


A’s for the ape. Ray crept – caped! -- down the drape,

consummated his caper, then made his escape.

Abnegating the grape, Ray'd been staying in shape.

Mapes, the gatekeeper, videotaped it (Ray's jape).


B’s for the beard. Crime career nearly queered,

Pier, as feared, engineered it (a shear of his beard).

Dierdre sneered as the austere Pier – sheared – reappeared.

Cheerless Kier, leering, jeered, “Dear, dear: seriously weird!”


C’s for the child I’d misfiled under ‘mild’

whom unreconciled psychics reviled as beguiled.

“For awhile, Pyle’d not smiled,” sighed Childe Harold de Wylde

(Since Pyle died, Childe’s decided, “Pyle’s piles had been filed!”)


D’s for one drowned whom a flounderman’s brown hound

found – crowned and aground -- in Quowtown’s renowned sound.

Zounds! The thousands of pounds Browne found ‘round ‘bout Xaone Mound

helped bring down the clown’s fun’ral expense, I’ll be bound.


E’s for the earl (christened Burl) whom rur’al churl Cyr’l

found curled up in church tarted up like “Merle’s Girl.”

Surly Burl’s curls, unfurled, skirled like mother-of-pearl,

while their twirling purged Fleurwell: Sir Fleur sure did hurl!


F’s for the furs. Coeur’s chauffeur, Merce, avers

he o’erheard her assure the Third Curate of Tours

how hers were from Sir Herb. It occurs terce Merce errs:

hers Coeur lured from the Kurtzes, curt restauranteurs.


G’s for the goat “table d’hote”ing the note

haute Lord Mortimer wrote before g’rotting Dot’s throat.

Said note read, and I quote: “I vote no more to tote

what’s verboten: (signed) Mo’t.” (Also missing: Mo’t’s coat.)


H? For the hand –tanned – Rand scanned from the grandstand,

commanding the handbag with nine-hundred grand.

That damn dandy ha’n’t planned to abandon Dan’s van.

Man! That had to be Sandor: I’d branded that hand! 


I’s for the imp “mite ein grin und ein gimp.” 

He’s the pimply lipped pimp whose chimp’s pinching Jim’s shrimp.

Sift your usual suspects: walks one with a limp?

I’m convinced Sgt. Blymp: you’re a dimwitted simp.


J’s for the jam, ma’am, a ton if a gram!

That’s what jammed our li’l femme – Grammy Graham’s wee lamb.

Pam got flattened – ker-blam! – lying crammed in her pram.

(The damn’d monster responsible’s still on the lamb.)


K’s for the king. Rex reported last Spring

how he’d “misplaced” his ring after dinging the thing.

Bling’s since turned up – ka-ching! – on some pawnbroker’s wing.

Who’ll lay odds Major Klahdz gets His Highness to sing?


L’s for the leg which the pregnant nun Meg

mused she’d used to seduce Reggie Weggman, a yegg.

Check these negs! Far from vague: Sister Meg’s leg’s a peg!

Oui…ze omelet, she begs pour ze break of ze egg.


M’s for the moon. (En Francais, c’est “la lune.”)

It our shrewd Sioux “assumes” loomed, balloon-like, last June –

then impugnes me “le fool” and “le clueless baboon.”

Well, ‘twas prune-black that night, Chief. No moon rose till noon.


N’s for the net Vet Bette lets on she set

To prevent Annette’s marmoset wrecking her fete.

Yet Bette’s net went unset. Let me bet: ‘Nette’s pet met

with “a fate wois’ than deat’”: Josette’s deft bayonet.


O’s for the oar with which whoremonger Thor

swore he “sawr” Senor D’Or, ‘board the S. S. Lahore,

floor the War Commodore, mooring Moore at Death’s door.

Place no store in Thor’s story: D’Or’s oar was on shore.


P’s for the pit where li’l Whitney DeWitt

has insisted he’s seen Hittite hieroglyphs writ.

I submit whit’s a git. Quit the shit! Pit's unlit!

Blacker (more than a bit) than an blackamoor's tit.


Q’s for the quince bit by Vince, once a prince,

as he clipped mezzotints from Flint’s Septuagints.

Yet this dish evinced hints: a mint set of his prints.  

(Plus – don’t wince! – Vince has since failed to floss or to rinse.)


R’s for the rain Kane claims o’erflowed the drain,

thus effacing the stain tainting Jane’s counterpane.

That Ranier wasn’t slain’s now insane to maintain.

Still, no-brainers (like, “Were Wayne’s chains feined, Zane?) remain.


S? For the scream oral testaments seem

to reveal was unreal: the accused “had a dream.”

Yet that scream was no dream, just one seam in Bea’s scheme,

lest Rhee’s semen be seen on Leigh’s lychee ice cream.


T’s for the twins, distant kin of the Quinns,

two whose winning grins misevince sinister sins.

Yes, they did Timmons in, in implanting pink pins,

dipped in thinned carotene, in their victims thin shins.


U’s for the urn Verne, Sir Ernest’s nurse, learned

could depart and return when Verne twirled Miss Hearn’s fern.

There the taciturn Dern hid the undiscerned quern

he’d soon turn on the burned stern of Journeyman Byrne.


V’s for the vase where the Bishop of Thrace

placed his mace. Oh, Your Grace: what an ace hiding place!

After Matins, Bish flattens his archbishop’s face.

(Google “U is for urn” for a similar case.)


W’s wire required by Meyer.

Prior Dreyer hired Meyer (“The Highflyin’ Friar”)

to walk the tightwire, then to set it afire.

Meyer tried...but expired in the choir. How dire!


X? For the ‘xi Tee decoded as ‘phi,’

casting guilt for Dee’s thievery spree on Wang Lee.

‘Neath Bea’s third degree, Tee conceded the ‘xi.”

Now the digit of guilt seems to indicate…me.


Y’s for the yair where the charge d’affaire

shares, with devil-may-care heiress Sarah’s au pair  

an éclair – then, like Earhart, melts into thin air.

(As, I swear, has fair Sarah. Say…has she an heir?


Z’s for the zoo where Druse Hugh’s clueless coups

slew two ewes, stewed two shrews, abused caribous, too,

chewed out kangaroos, cockatoos. Killer bees? Few!

But those few Hugh’s confused crew let loose in the loo.

Hommage a Domino or Fats's Friends Don't Fast (A Nonsense ABC)



October the twenty fifth, year of Our Lord

sev’ral thousand and seventeen: Fats’s closed chord.

Still, though Fats be defunct now, long-lived be his heirs,

all choice chanteurs whose chassis approximate pears…

and whose surnames – i.e., the last halves of their names –

bear resemblance to some of my favorite games.

Note that many, as Fats did, pianofortes play.

Hey! Let’s hear ‘em before they get carried away:

AmpleAss Agon drips cream on the keys.

Backgammon Beefcake’s a black Deluise.

Check Chubby Checker! He lists as he twists.

Dumpy Dice comps with pluponderous wrists.

Enormity Euchre rolls Porky Pig eyes.

And who’s “Fatso” Faro? Just two of the guys. 

Gargantua Go belts his blues from a barrel.

Hefty Hearts hollers “More pie!” (At his peril.)

Inflated I Spy? Too much glut ‘round that gut!

Jumbo Jacks: wears he a fat suit or what?

Korpulent Keno? No, he’s no Jack Spratt.

“Lard” Ludo performs in E flat, for “he’s fat.”

Meaty Mahjong’s more than pleasingly plump.

No-lean Nintendo’s “no pork pie, all rump.”

Overstuffed Ouija’s a doughboy-in-training.

Pudgy Parcheesi’s obese…and still gaining.

Q. “Flabby” Qwirkel performs at a fat camp.

Rolypole Risk says, “I’d circumvent that camp.” 

SwollenCheeks Scrabble’s one oversize swinger.

TrebleTon Trivia? Arbuckle ringer.

Unskinny Uno’s like (you know) a whale.

Voluminous Vinci just busted his scale.

Wellpadded Whist sings the blues about lipo.

XtraPounds X-COM… (No, that’s not a typo.)

“Yer-too-fat” Yahtzee’s one corpulent cove.

Zaftig Z. Zingo’s a potbellied stove.

Piano men/singers? Still oodles, all fat.

But their R&B repertoire? That’s where it’s at.

Events...Events (A Doggerel)

Take note: what's Potus dread the most?
Foul deeds by dissidents?
Nope! Let's be clear: Drumpf’s greatest fear? 
Events, my dear...events. 
Need Drumpf beware the Koch-choked air
petroleum augments?
You heard it here: Drumpf’s greatest fear?
Events, my dear...events.

Apologize for all the lies,
the fake news he invents?
Nope! What's Drumpf do when day is through?
He vents! Mon Dieu: he vents: 
"So sad" (Drumpf says) “are Congress's
advises and consents."
Far worse than they? Drumpf’s feet of clay:
Events, okay? Events. 

Be Donald's bane some coup de main 
by ISIS malcontents?
Though bad, by fa-a-ar more fearful are
events, Akbar...events. 
What scares the pants off Donald? Rants
by former presidents?
Nope! Worse than those, Drumpf duly knows:
events, my bros...events.

What fans Drumpf’s fright 'round three at night?
The ninety-nine percents?
Them he can bear. More feared are their
events, mon frere...events. 
So: what must you do to undo
the trouble Drumpf foments?
This message send when you attend
events, good friend, events! 

The message? 

Till Drumpf vamooses or relents, 
support all anti-Drumpf events!  

Equivocal Barbs (A Nonsense Rhyme)

  
Some words are equivocal. E.g., here's three plus three.  

One? Bobbie and the Riders of his (Benson's) B-Bar-B

Two? Zanzibar, between the Wami delta and the sea.  

Inhuman "Butcher" Barbie’s three. (Klaus? No one's cup of tea.)  

Valeria Lukyanova’s four: human Barbie, she.  

Five? Donald! Donald tweets the barb (he shuns the repartee).  

Six? Here I go into a bar because I need to pee.  

Equivocal? Yes! (Nor would Aristotle* disagree.)

     *At least not in his Categories, the opening lines of which
refer to this very subject. 

Monday, April 2, 2018

Dessert Song (A Nonsense ABC)



Supper’s over. Who wants pudd? It’s understood: I would! I would!

Alas, I'm diabetic, so…all normal helpings must forego.

‘Twould be, for me, the height of folly, as arrives the pastry trolley,

to ingest one morsel more than minimum. Thus, I ask for…

one axion of apple pie. One bite of baklava.

One crumb of carrot cake. One dwarfling’s dab of dacquoiseah-h-h-hh.

One element of Entenman’s. One fermion of flan.

One grain of German choc’late cake. (Why? Just because I can.)

One hint of halva. Imagawayaki? One iota.

One jot of jam, one kiss of Krispy Kreme topped with ricotta,

plus just one lick of laddoo (just the one: one’s been my quota).

One morselette of macaroon. Of nougat? Just one niggle.

Oladui? Just one ort, not two: no room have I for wiggle.

One particle of petit four. One quark of queijadinha.

One radion of Rocky Road. (I’ll pass on the farina.)

One smidgeonelle of sachertorte. One tittle of taiyaki.

One up quark of the upside-down cake. (Pray it’s not too chalky.)

One very – vanishingly very – trivi’l vial of vla,

unless the vla be bland and blah -- (that’s ever been its flaw).

One whispering of Whoopie Pie. One extract ot ximago.

And, though I’m not a Glarus Swiss, one yin of your sapsago.

And zero of the zabajone – zero's quite enough.

Then top it off with treacle toffee…and…Marshmallow Fluff.

Do Black Lives Matter to Drumpf? (A Doggerel)

The Donald insists that his long par fives matter.
His one-hundred-fifty-yard baffy drives matter.
The courses he’s building outside St. Ives matter.
But where does Drumpf stand vis-à-vis Black Lives Matter?
The Donald insists that his trophy wives matter.
His comb overs, blowouts and boy beehives matter.
Though sad hands, his glad hands and jive high fives matter.
But where does Drumpf stand vis-à-vis Black Lives Matter?
Drumpf’s towers? Vulgarian dives! Do they matter? 
Drumpf’s Bedminster 18-round skives: do they matter?
How long before Donald crash dives? Does it matter?
(Where were we? Let's see: oh, yeah: does Drumpf agree
    Black Lives Matter?) 

Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda or Augmented Marlon (A Nonsense Rhyme)

I coulda had class, coulda been a contenda.
I shoulda had kvass, shoulda went on a benda.
I’d pass clad in Blass, if my thighs had been slenda.
I shoulda spent brass, woulda been "Da Big Spenda."
I'd blast bad trad jazz, had I had me a Fenda.
I coulda been crass: tact ain’t par for my genda.
Coulda coupled with Cass, but instead I wed Brenda.
I should pad may ass, ‘cuz my butt’s somewhat tenda.
I coulda passed gas, then sass’d, “Retoin ta senda!”
I coulda had bass; striped, it woulda been tenda.
I woulda smoked grass but I hadn’t a venda.
I should attend Mass. (Would I snooze through the splenda?)
I shoulda grabbed passes to “Prisoner of Zenda.”
I would stand a glass for my fellow West Endas.
I coulda danced chasse, woulda filmed with Wim Wendas.
I should sport a girdle instead of suspendas.
I could…but, alas: I’ve my own bent agendas.
I’ve reached an impasse. Now, please, pen your addendas.

Sunday, April 1, 2018

If A Is Not Four or Five Whatevers, Then Whatever Is A For?

A is not four, 
nor five or more, 
aged alligator clips.
Allowed as
afterthought’s an agile Appaloosan acrobat.
And B's not four,
much less one more,
burnt bien cuit bacon strips.
Big brother’s
brief? Be babysitting’s baddest bowlered bureaucrat. 
C is not four,
nor five or more, 
coy Californians,
‘cuz (candid-
ly) crisp coatings choke cute chocolate-covered crocodiles.
And D's not four,
much less one more, 
defective diamonds.
Duets D
does distinguish? Dartmouth’s dapper dancing discophiles.
E is not four,
nor five or more, 
East Sister Islanders.
Each earnest
epileptic elf exhibits elasticities.
And F's not four,
much less one more, 
"for fun" faux-foxtail furs.
Far from it!
Friends foresee ferocious feeding-frenzied fantasies.
G is not four,
nor five or more, 
guffawing garden gnomes.
Gay gyro
geeks grab gravity’s gigantic Gs! Go, gallivanters!
H is not four,
much less one more, 
hardhats for Hemlock Holmes.
Hark! Huns hoist
hands high, hoarsely holl’ring, “Heil, Hitlerian h’erophanters!”
I is not four,
nor five or more,
injected Idahoes
if it, in-
deed, instead imports illuminated isobars.
And J's not four,
much less one more, 
jumpshots by Jalen Rose.
Jock Jalen’s
joy’s just jostling jowl-jammed jack-o’-lanterned jaguars.
K is not four,
nor five or more, 
keel'd kayaks Kant once rowed.
Kan’t (sik) kind
kindergarten kids keep keening kosher katydids?
And L's not four,
much less one more, 
large lizards (pigeon-toed).
Look! Lanky
lawyer Laughing Lincoln’s left lifts lofty lilac lids!
M is not four,
nor five or more,
moist macaroni shapes.
Mere mugging,
mostly – maybe miming mad, malicious malcontents?
And N's not four,
much less one more,
Near-Nostradamists’ capes.
Nope! Nearly
no nerds notice nice, neat neighborly non-residents. 
O is not four,
nor five or more, 
o'er oak tree leaping otters.
O's often
only one one-octave oil-soaked orange ocarina.
And P's not four,
much less one more, 
pert pharaonic daughters.
Pin, please, plu-poorly pleated pantaloons, patrician Palestrina! 
Q is not four,
nor five or more,
quaint Muammar Quaddafis.
Quare que-
reris, quiv’ring queer quinduplicated quadrupeds?
And R's not four,
much less one more,
ripped ropes of Turkish taffies.
R's rarer,
really: raging, ruffled, rather rude Rhode (Island?) Reds.

S is not four,
nor five or more 
sweet saccharine serapes.
So: simply
stated: Swirlin’ Swami’s somewhat silly silken sash.
And T’s not twice times
two or more
trilat'ral tainted nappies.
Thirteen to three, ‘tis tireless Ted the Toiler, trucking ten-ton trash.
U is not four,
nor five or more, 
Ur-unwed Ursulines.
U’s ugly:
undressed Uncle Uly’s (ugh!) unsightly underpants.
And V's not four,
much less one more,
vat-vintage'd Valentines.
Vay! Vay!  V’s
very vicious vole’s (de)vours V's vocal Vivian Vance.
W's not
four or more 
wet Warhols wafting kites --
not while wild 
white-wigg’d warlocks wiggle one's weird worthless warrantee.
And X? Not four,
much less one more, 
xerotic xerophytes.
Is X...? Exactly! "Ximply xwarming" xanthic xylocopidae. 
Y's not four,
nor five or more, 
yurt-yellow yolk-yoked yaks.
Yeah, yeah, you
"you-know-what": Y’s yakish, yet’s your yashmak'd young'uns’s yak.
And Z's not four,
much less one more,
zig-zagging zodiacs.
Zorillas?
Zebras? Zebus? Zorses? Zut, no! Z’s for Zeke, our Zack!.

Saturday, March 31, 2018

The Carpenter's Druthers (A Nonsense Poetry Composition Competition)

Who Carroll’s Carpenter Might Have Been 
Create an Alphabet’s Worth of Six-line Stanzas, Each Introducing a Different Partner for the Walrus   

Sometime in 1871, presenting the text for “The Walrus and the Carpenter” to his illustrator John Tenniel for the artist to illustrate, Lewis Carroll gave the man alternate choices for the character of the Carpenter, namely the Butterfly and the Baronet, explaining that each fit the poem metrically (in what is here designated as a -- ^ -- pattern) and that Tenniel should make the selection based on the chosen image’s pictorial potential. 
The list below features 26 other options Carroll might have offered. The list includes neither inanimate objects (for example, ‘the Catapult’ is not included) nor phrases (e.g., it excludes ‘the Bishop’s Thumb’ even though that phrase exhibits the requisite -- ^ -- pattern). Otherwise, pretty much anything goes, and the list is far from comprehensive.
Here’s Carroll’s original (with a normalized punctuation: pace Rev'd Carroll):
 
The Walrus and the Carpenter
Were walking close at hand;
They wept like anything to see
Such quantities of sand:
“If this were only cleared away,”
They said, “it would be grand!”

And here are several options:

The Walrus and the Astronaut
The Walrus and the Basilisk
The Walrus and... 
the Corporal, the Doberman, 
the Extrovert, the Fisher King, 
the Gadabout, the Harlequin, 
the Idiot, the Janitor, the Kittiwake, 
the Liberal, the Masochist, the Neonate, 
the Ombudsman, the Pantywaist, 
the Quietist, the Radical, the Shepherdess, 
the Trotskyite, the Ubermensch, 
the Vagabond, the Wanderer, 
the Xylocarp, the Yodeler, the Zebrafish
Or select your own new partners, as long as they maintain the -- ^ -- pattern.
Then compose six new line stanzas using each additional option in turn, following the metrical model and rhyme scheme of Carroll's original.

Alphabet of Bugs (A Structrually Constrained Nonsense ABC)

A's for A Bug: 
Donald Rumsfeld, 
shocking, Awful 
ABU Ghraib Bug!

B's for B Bug: 
Ms. Savitsky, 
bitchin' Bella 
ABzUG Bug!

C's for C Bug: 
John Belushi: 
"…-burger, cheese-!" (Cheese-
BUrGer Bug!)

D...? D Bug: Mar-
lene Dietrich: 
Deutsch-treat BlaU
EnGel Bug!

E's for E Bug: 
King Kong: esca-
lator’d E. State 
BUildinG Bug.

F’s for F Bug: 
Swiss Jean Tinguely, 
fabled FreiBoUrG 
Fauvist Bug!

G’s for G Bug: 
young Abe Lincoln, 
gabby Gettys-
BUrG Address Bug!

H...? For H Bug: 
Little Toot: the 
hapless happy 
HarBor TUG Bug!

I's for I Bug: 
Adolf Hitler: 
rare "Is Paris 
BUrninG...?" Bug!

J's for J Bug: 
Oscar Hammer-
stein: "June's BUstinG 
Out All O-…" Bug!

K's for K bug:
Boris I,* the 
karmic Khan (BUl-
Garian) Bug!
     * Boris the First, of course – 
i.e., not Boris Ingelheim the 
New Jersey orthodontist.

L...? For L Bug: 
Wolverines: those 
"I Love Thee, Li'l 
Brown JUG" Bugs!

M...? M Bug: The 
Artist’s* "The Most 
BeaUt'ful Goil In 
Woild" Bug!
     * The one formerly known as 'Prince.'

N's for N Bug:
Ms. Monroe: the 
nubile Nude-on-
Bear-RUG Bug!

O's for O Bug:
K. L. Bates:* "Oh, 
BeautifUl For 
Spacious...Grain" Bug!
     * Composer of "America the Beautiful" 
Katherine Lee Bates.

P's for P Bug: 
A. Carnegie: 
philanthropic 
PittsBUrGh Steel Bug!

Q's for Q Bug: 
Marx, aka 
QuackenBUsh (call’d
Groucho) Bug!

R's for R Bug:
Michael Richards: 
racist RaBid 
JUnkyard DoG Bug!

S? S bug: for 
Messers Flatt and 
Scruggs: two Southern 
BlUeGrass Bugs!

T's for T Bug:
Joseph Gibbs: a 
Turncoat BUrgun-
dy 'n' Gold Bug!

U’s U Bug: U-
nited Ara-
Bic RepUb' of 
EGypt Bug!

V's for V Bug:
C. Bartholin*: 
VestiBUle...Va-
Gina” Bug!
     * The Younger.

W’s Bug is
Patrick Henry: 
WilliamsBUrg Gun-
powder Bug!

X? For X Bug: 
Ryken*: Xaver-
ian Bro from
BrUGge Bug!
     * I.e., T. J. Ryken.

Y's for Y Bug:
Rodgers:* "You've Got
Caref'lly to B
TaUGht" Bug!
     * Richard, of course, 
not Roy – note spelling (orthography, 
of course, not Tori).

Z's for Z Bug: 
Pike: Z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-breeding 
ZeBUlon Mont-
Gom'ry Bug!

"King Dump": "Ubu Roi" Reimagined Yet Again

  (More to come; a work in progress.)