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Friday, August 20, 2021

Aug. 20, 2021

||
| guilt, arose, kennel, whimsy, wearing thin.
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.

10 comments:

Sandyanon said...

What? No carrot and celery sticks? FYI, Madam model, pizza is not lo-cal!

I like the punny solution, though.

Ol' Man Keith said...

We often choose our pets on impulse, rarely knowing in advance what will wrench our hearts in selecting our furry companions...

"(A) Tearing Whim"
Passing through the kennel, a sense of guilt arose
because I knew I couldn't adopt them all.
But I couldn't leave behind the pup with the twitchy nose,
the one that I call "Whimsy"--she with the loudest wrawl.
~ OMK

Misty said...

"Kind Kate"

A bit of a problem arose
when Kate her puppy chose.
The kennel was filled to the hilt
and her choice gave Kate some guilt.
Taking only one felt flimsy,
so she took a chance on a whimsy:
she went back, and after a chat,
decided to bring home a cat.
The next phase took a lot of caring
because dealing with a cat and dog pairing
created some serious nerve-wearing,
But although the chances were thin
they resulted in a lucky win-win.
Dog and cat are now each other's best friend,
and Kate's acts produced a most happy end.

Ol' Man Keith said...

Misty ~
Well, cats gotta live too!
That was a surprise. I'm happy for Kate--and for your Mutt-and-Jeff combo--that it all worked out.
And you covered all the "givens."
I guess it's true that cats and dogs can get along quite well, especially if they grow up together.
But even if they're older when paired together they're usually smart enough to make accomodations to get along--once they realize they are going to be housemates.
I don't know this from personal experience, but I know it has worked for others.
I grew up with cats. They were OK, but I never felt the warmth I get from dogs.

BTW, today's couplets would do just as well, with only minor adjustments, if you were to alternate lines. That would change your steady AABBCC pattern to ABABCD...
Try it. You'll gain variety with little strain.
~ OMK

Misty said...

Ol' Man Keith, thank you for the kind response to the dog and cat situation in my verse today. I am basically a cat person, but had two beloved cats killed by cars on the street, and when I rented a house with a fenced yard, I got my first dog since I could let him be both outside and still be safe. Of course, that doesn't work either. Here in Laguna, both of my dachshunds (Misty and Dusty) were taken out by coyotes, three years apart--the last only last Fall. That put an end to my pet ownership, I'm afraid--I can't handle any more losses.

Thanks for your suggestion on possible changes to my rhyme patterns. I actually had your previous suggestions, that I complicate them a little, in mind in today's verse, which has an AABBCCDD EEE FFGG pattern, with a three-liner in the middle (sort of). But I'll think about trying you ABAB sometime in the coming week.

Ol' Man Keith said...

Gotcha, Misty ~
Cool.
Keep in mind that it doesn't always work. Not as well as with your poem today.

The triplet rhymes are welcome. They're most effective of course when coming after an ABAB string. That's when they feel most like a surprise.
Let your readers get accustomed to a rhyme every OTHER line, and then hit 'em with a series of rhyme IN A ROW.

In a way, all this stuff harks back to Brecht and his ideas on alienation. (Alienation is a misleading translation of his Verfremdungseffekt. "Estrangement" is better, I think, although it is awkward because seldom used in English.)
I substitute "jolt" for the effect BB wanted for his audiences, a way of making them "wake up" to what they were perceiving. He understood that no jolt ever works unless the preceding data, narrative, or formal method has lulled an audience into expecting something else.
~ OMK

Ol' Man Keith said...

I had fun with my brief ditty, Misty.

You know I like economy, but it must make good sense. Haiku is best of all--if the words permit.
Today I found I could cover three of the words in a single pentameter line.
Leaving the solution phrase to last, for the title, I needed only to insert the 4th word somewhere.
Well, you know how you helped me with that. Every time I name a pet in a verse, I silently credit you!
That left me with a single remaining challenge--a word to rhyme with "all."
I think I might have found the perfect answer. (I was tempted to add a couple of extra "R"s to it...)
~ OMK

Misty said...

OMK, darn, Kate should have named her dog and cat today. But I loved your sweet Whimsy. Will have to keep the naming tradition in mind in the future.

Wilbur Charles said...


I'm so enjoying your flights of whimsy
It never wears thin, never flimsy
Dogs adopted from the kennel with love
Cats to join them on their perches above
The madding crowd aposing
Oblivious to the petty cares arosing
Not to speak of the guilt the dog's feel
But it never stopped them from filching the cat's meal

WC

Misty said...

Wow, Wilbur, you did it!
You got all the Jumble words and solution into your clever, clever verse, with some nice oddity (arosing?) here and there, and with a very funny ending. A perfect finish to our day of Jumble playing-- many thanks!