So Bubba and Sissy and I were drawing on the folding table. He did a Humpty Dumpty, she did a gazelle head, and I did this:

I have it on good authority that “Derp” means Silly or Stupid, and is so named from the sound made by someone in that state or place. “Derpa” is a variant favored by Sissy, who also drew Derpa Face examples for me. Mention was also made of an exotic creature, the Tripa-Derpa-Huma-corn, which has a horse’s body, three horns, and a Derpa face.

Naturally I wanted my Inner Child to take over on this page. I think he shows up in the non-calligraphy (I won’t be using Calligraphy as a tag this time) and the fade-to-unfinished as we progress down to the bottom of the page. The words are also kid-influenced, but adult-conducted:

Dang it! sang it 20 times but they all sounded off
Dilly-dally helped the tally shower made me coff

Exit shower enter Power Drawing works like Sherpa
EW! to half-ing YES! to Laughing faces a la Derpa

Rigatoni or baloney shines like fine shellac
Roly poly holy moley skate that cul-de-sac

Point your pencil at a stencil fill & then erase
Place a Norn or Huma-corn where Ogres may give chase

Ah, we don’t need a Cheer to lead nor cloned John Philip Sousas
Ah, Wilderness–ah, filled address–ah, fine Derpapaloozas

My childhood was brightened by the darkness of the Master of Horror, Edgar Allan Poe. His language, mannered and on the archaic side, softened the gruesomeness he explored. His poetry could be compelling, and its sometimes labyrinthine rhyme and metronomic meter set a good example for the poetry I myself would soon attempt. His life served as a cautionary tale.

Here are the mannered, on-the-archaic-side words of the double acrostic:

Persnickety in rhyme, I trow
Permits a subtext undertow

One voice would serve as Paraclete

Evocative and haunting–sweet

PS–the EAP quote is slightly altered via brackets and substitution. His word was “intervals;” I like “bouts” better.

On the glorious 4th of July, as a special event of the Village Gallery for First Friday, I sat at a table by the south entrance and offered to exchange 5 minutes of portraiture, graphite on deckle-edged 8″ x 10″ 90-pound Stonehenge paper, for $5 a pop. There were only a handful of pops, it being the 4th of July and dramatically cloudy to boot. But here is a nice passage of moments, photography courtesy of my gallery colleague Lenore, modeling courtesy of Pat, a sweet lady I met through my job.

If I do it again, I’ll offer 10 minutes for $10. Five minutes goes by too fast!

Here I fulfill a commitment to Denise’s granddaughter. Here is how I acquired the commitment: On canvas was a painting that said, clearly to anyone wearing glasses, “A Ghost Riding the Wave of Life.” Not wearing glasses, I misread it as “A Ghost Riding the Nose of Life.” She thought it was funny; I thought I should make up for my goof, so I told her I’d write a poem entitled “I Am a Ghost Riding the Nose of Life.”

Here is the poem transcribed:

Life is a weird man with
   a white beard and
   a surprised look

And I am the ghost
   of a girl
   on a skateboard

Riding on Life’s
   N  O  S  E

Beyond his nose is the great
   B  E  Y  O  N  D

Staying on his nose
   is tricky
But I am up to it

And I am up
   to unghosting
   myself

and coming back to my
mom and my bubba and my
uncle sean and my ninny–
REAL Life!

Three unique souls share a birthday today. One is my late grandfather, Paul L. Householder. One is my Sweetheart, Denise. The third is my partner in pun-ditry (see “The Pun Exchange” some posts back), Shawn L. Bird. Here is a page I did today that both celebrates Shawn’s birthday and fulfills a commitment to Try, Try Again to do Shawn justice with a portrait.

This effort is better than the first one. The next one will be better yet, if and when. Meanwhile, you’ll find Shawn in the WordPress blogosphere, and her book Grace Awakening, referred to in the acrostic, available here and there. Seek and ye shall find–and please with me wish Shawn a very Happy Birthday!