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| oddest, unwind, acidic, hoopla, alpaca, forbid, a shadow of a doubt.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.
I'll postpone my day off. Today's clue words stirred a memory for me.
ReplyDeleteIf, say, you're a vegetarian who wants to write a visual protest against eating the meat of a dear animal, you probably want to scrawl it on the largest blank area of wall molding available. In that case, you'll need to scribble in large letters on the flat wood below the chair rail.
It will then be a...
"Dado of a Shout"
At a farm outside Cusco, I was at dinner
where without any hoopla, we ate alpaca.
It was the oddest thing for an American--
served shish-kebab style with a plain cracker.
This was an entree to enjoy after a day among Incas.
It was tender & non-acidic; my wife wouldn't touch it.
She would have forbid us if we'd been served together.
As it was, I was happy she wasn't asked to judge it.
~ OMK
"Busy Career"
ReplyDeleteShaun had not a shadow of a doubt
that he could develop a cure for the gout.
His strategies were not the oddest,
yet his research was among the hottest.
There was much hoopla in his troupe
every time he developed a new scoop.
His technique was quite analytic
and obliged him to be sometimes acidic,
as when he exposed a troublesome hacker
who stole his cure for a sick alpaca.
This encouraged him to forbid
any leaks in his scientific orbit.
With all this work, Shaun needed to unwind
and some peace and leisure to find.
So today he lies on the beach,
doing crosswords and eating a peach.
Chet asks Lois about her journey]
ReplyDeleteThe key was canning the hoopla and accepting the message
It was far less about what was forbidden and focusing on the passage
For the only way out is through. Once I'd unwound
And my acidic brain cleared up, I learned my way around.
Beyond a shadow of a doubt the right sponsor is key as by now
You surely know. For the magic word in sobriety is HOW:
Honesty, Open-mindedness and Willingness. But who knows better.
We're not a glum lot; you should have seen my alpaca sweater.
Then came the oddest thing of all: Accepting the invite to that seedy place
And on the way out, looking back to the bar and seeing your sad, sad face.
So I went back, ordered a ginger ale until I gathered my nerve
I'm not that daring but Step Number Twelve asks us to serve
WC
Shall I part my hair behind?
ReplyDeleteDo I dare to eat a peach?
ReplyDeleteAh, Misty, it looks like your Shaun has come through the challenges and vicissitudes of middle-class middle-age quite intact and worry-free.
In the end we find him on that beach, a member of the Crossword Corner, slurping peaches, and no doubt singing along with the mermaids.*
The gout-free alpacas probably revere him and teach their young crias his holy name.
~ OMK
___________
* I do not think that they will sing to me.
OMK, you know your Eliot better than I do. Finally had to look it up:
ReplyDeleteDo I dare to eat a peach? I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each. I do not think that they will sing to me.
So I'm assuming you will wear white flannel trousers, just to please the mermaids?
Wikbur, what a sad but promising story Lois tells us about her background and how she slowly came back from a difficult time. Very plausible, and very moving. I'm now hooked and will follow her journey mindfully.
ReplyDeleteWilbur, I feel for Lois, and applaud her determination. It's looking as though Chet and Lois are truly together for good -- in both meanings.
ReplyDeleteHah!
ReplyDeleteMisty, It is a reminder how memory works.
I can't recall the name of the TV show I just watched, but I know much of my Shakespeare and certain poetry I learned as a kid, ages ago, word for word.
Happens I won a city-wide recitation contest as a HS senior reading my memorized "Prufrock."
(I think I wowed the judges by starting in Italian, with that canto from Dante. To this day, I get a kick out of switching from "Senza tema 'd'infamia ti respondo..." into "Let us go then, you and I..."
A wonderful rhythmic shift.)
~ OMK
Wilbur ~ I have learned more about AA from you in the past few days than I ever thought I would know in this lifetime.
ReplyDeleteI see that nothing is guaranteed to any of us. It is not just a matter of surrendering your ego, you must stand by it and own it for as long as it takes to work your way to sobriety.
I see they're "not a glum lot," quite willing to crack jokes against themselves. (Some even wear crazy alpaca sweaters.)
Eventually, they all must serve. And, if serving as a sponsor, I presume, to protect.
~ OMK
OMK, The closest I came was reciting Le Renard et le Corbeau in French . The Captain of the cheerleaders was mon corbeau. Les Corbeaux with la plumage are the males
ReplyDeleteWC
Oh, , you old Fox!
ReplyDeleteSniffing 'round that sweet young fromage...
But then, ah, it was all back in The Day.
~ OMK
Starting Mon., July 19-- based on LA TImes digital Jumble:
ReplyDelete"An Irregular Jolt"
The emcee for the concert version
of Hello, Dolly!
suddenly chanted "I Am The Walrus."
--as unexpected an excursion
(I am he as you are me)
as to a rodeo with a cowgirl trollop,
on a steed you walloped into a gallop,
well tended by his groomsmen three
in a manner sharing & chivalrous.
~ OMK