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cantankerously unobstreperous

curmudgeons may include him, her, and you
and dogs who howl and bay to fill the moon
not mentioning an undynamic duo
that carries on more frenzied than haboob
antagonism coexists with brothers
neanderthalic whims take to the street
kerfuffle ends, but soon will be another
euripedes was ofttimes indis-crete
rasputin took some hits, but none too deep
olivier became a drilling foe
upended abel’s brother was no keeper
soliloquizing hamlet sez hell/o
life reads as epic, wit reads like a senryu
you turn a scowl to grin–you pay your dues

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Can you find the twelve curmudgeons in this sonnet?

Don’t bother, he said grumpily.

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As with a good deal of other human endeavor, this text-based image is a happy-accidental cacophony of One Thing Leads To Another, with an overlay of a consciousness trying to make sense of it all. What luck it was that “Psychosis” is choppable into equal three-character strings, and hey! so is “Symphonic!” And Wow–“Psy” names a pop star of Korean roots, and so does “Cho!” A lookup of “Sis” yields–WOW!!! “Secret Intelligence Service,” aka MI16!!!! And so forth.

Early on in this image I’d intended to ask a musically-gifted friend to compose the three ending bars of the Psychosis Symphony–but the crazy-minded flavor of my acrostics made the route I took here suit the subject more fittingly. There is just enough musical notation to frame the elements, and that is another happy accident.

“Psychosis” words:

Paste-effacement is no basis
Prawn-bowl cause could lead to stasis

Shown shorn wraiths of Anasazi
Sphagnums guest heat into ziti
Spared a tool with Luca Brasi
Scarfed aphasic Nefertiti

Yet heard echoes of glissandos
Yaw pitched metaphoric rondos

“Symphonic” words:

She’ll help with a hum/bello piñon
Suppress an oppressivish minion

You might hear from Lauper, Cyndi
Yearn & search for Don’t Bee koi
Yes, & werebeests’ hoped-for chindi
Yet may garnish fresh bok choi

Might need to enshroud a Jung maniac
Moo, Zeke! It’ll get downright zany, Mac

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Dewey is a rat, and a fun one at that; so says my replacement on the Graveyard Shift, who is Dewey’s human.

Why is Dewey in the midst of Erratic? Just my erRATic sense of play at humor, and vice versa.

Here are the words to the quintuplesque acrostic:

Histrionic nonmouse idling-whiskered bulby-eyed
Eats preys scampers madly–synchronicity gone wide
Let the record show and tell a rat’s lot’s tough and low
Loathsome inhumanity yields rocky rows to hoe
O for Pizza cheesy with a crust that’s not too doughy

(Dewey really does eat pizza.)

halving an oft day

i cot myself sheafing this mourning,
and then i tied trying my choose.
the popcorn yinyanged, its tao corning
as greensward gave berth to the blues.

went driveling oft to my woofplace
and clogged in presizedly at seven.
the cubic hold tolled off a jerkface
and bread had more film at a leaven.

then lungetime, and thyme to crees forehead,
the voice in my forehood felt faint.
it spoked of a spooklier warsaid,
and saintlier aintlier daint.

three churros for dayend dessertion
and laycheck in latent elation.
the clogout was functory whirr shun
width dogfood dude ken l. oration.

then holm and its dinned dear and moo vee
then biddybye with a comped banyan.
comp won and comped awl, slipping tubey,
an oft day not halved baaed to spannion.

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Many art supply stores have wooden pose-able models in sizes from keychain to full scale. The one double-track-drawn here is about four inches high. I took approximately the same liberties with flexure and expression as Gene Colan did with his renderings of Iron Man, lo these several decades past.

(About seven years ago I sent “Genial Gene” a gushing fan e-mail, praising his storytelling illustration, and he quickly and nicely answered in true gentleman fashion. Just found out three minutes ago that he died in 2011. Alas! Here’s a link for the curious: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Colan )

Anyway, it occurred to me that these anonymous mannequinesques would make good chess pawns, and I’ve been into grids lately, so…

Here are the words, for the third time, sort of:

Participants should come a’board’–we’ll start ASAP
And then ‘square’ off in reenacted war or game or deal
Whine, loose or drawl: no ‘stale mate’ allowed, nor bargained plea
Nor b’rook’ing op’position’ via mattress glue–too sealy

 

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I’m no photorealist, but I took two days instead of my usual one with my page image in order to take the proper time to be a tourist in Photorealville. Like a marathon, it’s more fun HAVING done it than actually DOING it.

In French, “Il faut que…” means, approximately, “It is necessary that…” I haven’t studied French in more than thirty-five years, but I think whatever follows the phrase must take the subjunctive. Luckily I only needed the phrase to make an international bad pun. This one isn’t just punning for the sake of, though. With Ill meaning Sick and Faux meaning False and Ku meaning Haikuesque, the play on words fits the words of the poem, which are these:

out of the darkness,
into the comprehensible:
uneasily done…

One example is Galileo’s Inquisition-forced recantation of his assertion that the Earth revolves around the Sun, rather than vice versa. He is rumored to have muttered “Eppur si muove” [“Nevertheless, it [the earth] still moves”] as he walked off to compromised freedom.

A more recent example is Richard Feynman’s bucking of NASA authority in publishing, and demonstrating, his assertion that the material that the O-Rings were made of was the likely cause of the Challenger disaster. Less known is the fact that he was on a supervisory committee for the approval of textbooks in the state of California, and tried to fight senselessness in the textbooks he reviewed, to little avail and in the face of offered bribes and other senselessness. He finally quit in frustration and emotional stress; THAT battle he could not continue to fight.

Bottom line: If you have a Truth that defies societal “truth,” and you wish to defend the Truth, prepare for uneasiness.

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The Further Adventures of Denise and Gary has been going on for some months, taking the form of a Facebook status update. Some of the Adventures cleave fairly closely to the truth; some are more fanciful; some bear only the faintest echo of the reality that inspired them.

This one, the first illustrated version of FAOD&G, is what I am pretty sure would have happened if I’d provided my half of the proceedings. It is also a delivery system for two Groaner-grade puns.

I could not post it without showing it to Denise and getting her go-ahead. I am glad to report that she deemed it cute and gave her gracious permission.

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A couple of days ago a dynamic duo named Beth & Paul sold me an oak desk/hutch they’d advertised on Craigslist. The hutch is eminently drawable but needs company; thus this page was born. It is a sometimes thinly, sometimes thickly disguised celebration of puns and other word-association sorties, sorta. (Like those last two words.) (Like those last two words?)

Here is the quadruple-acrostic transcription:

Some friendly Flicka ate her oats & whinnied, meaning Pooh
The queen of Egypt slaked her thirst & Brutus he et tu
Avoirdupois was pounded out & tried & found in want
Recovery’s de-livery’s a frisked & bucking bronc
So roar at ease Sorority: shellac & conquer conch