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| grand, snarl, divert, abacus, stand guard.Image from the Internet.
The opening poem contains all the words (or variations of them) from today's Jumble.
Comments are welcomed! And couching them in Poetry is definitely NOT required.
Do not explicitly reveal any of the actual answer words until after closing time, but embedding them surreptitiously in comment sentences is encouraged.
11 comments:
"Alberta on Guard"
I had a grand time last summer--except for the bear.
I heard her snarl--and I squawked out a prayer!
I turned and (gulp) she was towering right there,
enormous & angry; I'd invaded her lair.
I tossed my abacus as I tried to divert her
and followed with a copy of The Sorrows of Young Werther.
On my way through the glade I glanced over my shoulder
and saw her running sums, propped up on a boulder.
Next to the bead counter, she was leafing through Goethe
and sounding out her German, "Ich heisse Alberta."
Coda:
She growled with even more fervor,
then once again paused,
and flexing her claws,
cried, "Vorsicht vor Alberta! Huete dich vor der Baer!"
~ OMK
Fabulous effort this morning OMK, that day off did wonders. Of course my German is as non existent as my Latin, Spanish and Russian
George Smiley of TTSS was a big fan of Goethe . It's said that the black bears of Maine are partial to Hawthorne.
Now Joyce? I imagine my old African Grey, Boomer, would have enjoyed Ulysses
I'll see if I come up with something later. I'll polish up my French. In fact I recall tossing in some French in the past.
WC
Here's something more to Misty's liking, perhaps
Twas the night before Christmas and the tree looked amaze
Tinsel on branches, gizmos galore, bulbs and candles ablaze.
Per tradition Tommy could pick one gift. A safe diversion I thought
A quick glance showed various presents the relatives had brought .
I smothered a snarl as he chose one marked "Love, Uncle Gus"
I stood there in guarded anticipation. "Oh no, an Abacus!"
"Oh Daddy, I love it, please show me how it works "
I stalled for time, "Check out the stockings", as I mentally cursed.
"I must see to the pudding and make sure it's still good"
I quickly Googled "How to Ab" and found the marvelous Eddie Hood
As beads flew and arithmetic was now fun, Tommy was enraptured.
Old uncle Gus had done it. The spirit of Christmas was captured.
WC
A bright & funny verse, WC; today you're in your zone!
Uncle Gus--and you!--have scored full marks with a charming Xmas poem.
~ OMK
"Courtship"
The couple had begun to flirt
when issues made them divert.
They soon began to quarrel,
to yell, to shout, and to snarl.
But an emotional abacus
soon stopped all this worrisome fuss.
It taught them some lessons
about counting their blessings.
Now they're carefully on their guard
to protect what they worked for so hard.
They hope soon at the altar to stand,
their relationship ending quite grand.
Wow! Wow! My goodness, what fabulous poems from you guys to get us off on a great Tuesday start!
Wilbur, what a lovely Christmas story of Tommy and his gift of an abacus from Uncle Gus. A totally charming poem, that warmed my heart. And I even looked up Eddie hood and his abacus.
Ol' Man Keith, I couldn't believe the scholarly diversions with which your narrator tried to distract the bear. And then the bear was even more brilliant, reading Goethe. Only her German seems a little bit off--did she mean to say "schuetze dich" (protect yourself) from the bear (which bear?). "Huete"? A fascinating verse.
Misty ~
The bear's scholarly pretensions must be blamed
on the need for a rhyme,
and the path of least resistance.
I was already in the game
looking to save some time,
less than dogged in my persistence.
I'd already thrown the abacus at her,
in my desperate attempt to "divert her."
Now what would rhyme at 3am?
I needed a gem.
Such was my anguish;
there seemed little to be found in the whole English language.
Proper names to the rescue! Call the damn bear "Alberta."
Then use the schwa ending in pronouncing "young Werther."
(That led, naturally, to J. Wolfgang von Goethe!)
Where to go next? Is the bear a speed reader?
Is it really too much for her to absorb the novel's theme
and take her own life? No, that would be a dream.
Just having her know German'd be a funny way to treat her.
Well, maybe not, but at least she can name herself,
and her speech could be amusing stuff.
"Ich heiss' Alberta"--not exactly a wealth
of humor, but it sounds funny enough.
I went to Google Translate to test where next to go,
& to see if "Schuetze dich" would work.
It asked if I meant "Huete* dich." Who was I to say No?
Thus, AI treated me once again like a jerk.
Your challenge reminds me AI can be wrong,
even seem crazy, mentally ill.
Yet in the long run, the chances are strong
it will win the day,
have the final say,
each variant to outlast, each dialect to kill,
bending us all to its etymological will.
~ OMK
____________
* I cannot type umlauts on my iPad keyboard, hence the awkward "ue" spellings.
Misty ~ And I wanted to add that I thought your creation of an "emotional abacus" was a brilliant way to turn your couple's story from darkness to light.
Also a handy solution for integrating that odd clue word/device into your verse.
~ OMK
I am stunned, stunned, stunned, Ol' Man Keith--stunned.
A seven stanza response to my silly message!
This should really be posted on Facebook or somewhere where people can see what a fabulous poet you are! I just can't believe it! How could you do that in just part of an afternoon? I am absolutely stunned and wish I could think of some better way to thank you other than just ranting about my astonishment.
OMK, you are my Jumble winner and always will be from now on. I will never ever come close to matching your brilliance! Never!
I was just composing my Wednesday poem but thought I'd check things out here.
I echo your sentiments Misty re. OMK 's natural poetic bent. Note he's experimenting with new styles. But he'll be the first to advise us that this is fun and not a contest.
But I do enjoy any kudos I can get and nobody does it better than Misty.
WC
My total pleasure to laud your poems, Wilbur!
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