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| havoc, brick, toward, degree, break (it) to her.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.
Quickly and honestly. I hope.
ReplyDeleteFLN, Sandy ~ I posted a late ref. to Andrew Marvell.
ReplyDeleteAnother fave of mine, in a more somber key, is Thomas Nash, esp. his "Litany" regarding the Plague.
The chorus runs (if my memory serves):
"Come come, the bells do cry,
I am sick. I must die.
Lord have mercy on us."
It is a perfect tolling. Like a Greek lament.
What a chilling acceptance...
Here is my response to today's Jumble:
The kid missed his aim & broke a window, but was blamed as if he threw it intentionally.
For years after, he dreaded going near the site, for fear of being chased again.
He really hadn't meant to...
"Break It (and Run)"
He threw a brick toward the convent door,
causing a degree of havoc.
The nuns' pupils chased him and, more,
reported him as a maverick.
~ OMK
[Lois continues]
ReplyDeleteI came to the Halls of AA because I was at the end of my rope
I'd wreaked havoc to such a degree that I just couldn't cope.
Whether powerlessness meant in my life or a drink of alcohol
I knew not. But I knew that I must tear down the brick wall
Of denial and move toward a new life as I learned was based
On honesty, rigorous honesty a principle that I must embrace.
A lovely lady realizing I was new and was listening intently
Saw that I wanted what she had. She broke it to me gently
"We alcoholics are doomed to drink again, it's the nature of our condition
But there's hope after all, I suggest you read Chapter One:
There is a Solution."
WC
Sandy, fln, ironically as I checked back and saw your Donne reference I realized it fit in with my rereading of Anna Karenina.
ReplyDeleteThere are two couples: The Karenins and Levins. The latter have just married and are blissfully in live.
The former very unhappy and Monsieur K certainly echoes Donne's thoughts on the fickleness of women.
Anna has abandoned Kareni and run off with Vronsky. Theirs is a torrid love affair; He's given up a career, she a son.
WC
Yes, OMK, I saw your Marvell reference and responded to it. Not as familiar with Andrew as I am with John, but I do know that particular poem.
ReplyDeleteWilbur, Anna Karenina was actually faithless. My complaint about John Donne was that -- at least in his youth -- he seemed to categorize all women as faithless. Rather unfairly obtuse, don't you think??
P.S. Wilbur, not sure how I feel about Lois. I hope she's compassionate as well as rigorous.
ReplyDelete"Street Brawl"
ReplyDeleteTheir fight caused such a havoc
it woke many folks on the block.
One brother threw a brick,
the others hit him with a stick.
Their struggles did windows break
and kept everyone awake.
Finally neighbors had enough endured
and out of their homes came toward
the fighters and made them assured
they'd be arrested if they failed to agree
to halt this fight to a total degree.
Now the brothers stopped their riot
and the street again became quiet.
The next day, after their bout,
the neighbors drove them all out.
Wilbur ~ Lois' lines convey nothing quite so much as the fatalistic theme that animates AA. The "rigorous honesty" she embraces is a poetic commitment to a predetermined life, as if making the best of living in hell.
ReplyDeleteSeems as essentially American as the Pilgrims. I don't know much about the founders. Were they Calvinistic Protestant?
BTW, I couldn't help seeing a major contrast between your loquacity and my, er, brevity. Is it a French thing, I wonder?
Sandy ~ Yes, I saw your response, FLN, and added a bit more to it.
You can practically hear Marvell's hearty chuckle.
That particular piece is one of the most famous from the metaphysicals.
Misty ~ Whew! That was some fight--a battle royal! I guess those brothers deserved their fate.
I enjoyed your account of it, especially the run-on triplet (despite the mill).
Such a family feud seems outside your customary realm of interest.
Were you just following the Jumble words, going wherever they took you?
~ OMK
OMK, I just read Nashe's Litany. Honestl, it's difficult for me to appreciate the poetry of it, because the subject grips me so strongly.
ReplyDeleteMaybe that is a comnent on the poetry, after all.
OMK, it's interesting how we read poetry from our own perspective, isn't it? I didn't really hear Marvell chuckling so much as being sarcastically impatient, and then moving into contemplating rather morosely the shortness of life, and using that reasoning to coax his lady into doing what he wishes. I didn't see much humor there.
ReplyDeleteBut as I said, my perspective is only my own.
Thank you for the kind words, Ol' Man Keith. Yes, with HAVOC, BRICK, and BREAK, I didn't see any possibilities of Jumble romance this morning, so had to take a tougher route. You clearly went down a similar route as well, I noticed. Always love your verse.
ReplyDeleteWilbur, so happy to see that Lois is going to have a good mentor to help her on the road to recovery. Great progress, all around.
I understand, Sandy ~ It is hard to read Nash without entering into his world of darkness & death.
ReplyDeleteHe rather makes our modern virus seem limp in comparison.
I came across him while studying Jacobean verse in my first season with the Oregon Shakes. Festival. Made an indelible impression.
He has stayed with me all these years.
A change of tone. Here is my light "perspective" (if one is allowed) on Donne and Wilbur's Anna K.:
We're such a weird animal.
We think monogamy rational.
We base dynasties, finances,
and romances on it.
Yet our hormones scarce indite the couplet to the sonnet.
~ OMK
Anna has abandoned Mr K and run off with Vronsky. Theirs is a torrid love affair; He's given up a career, she a son.
ReplyDeleteSandy, AK is decidedly not simple in any of its portrayals. Anna , as a teen, married a 40+ man in an arranged marriage. She was the epitome of powerless when it came to Vronsky. Which leads to...
Page 24
of the AA Big Book describes powerlessness eg not just what happens when an alcoholic drinks but that without "rigorously " committing to the program as laid out. And having said that atheists have their AA groups too.
Finally fickleness in women. About on a par with fickleness in men. My "ex-fiance" had a boyfriend conveniently out of town. Then I became the boyfriend on the side. C'est la vie.
WC
I don't mean to be cynical, but I was a bit shocked recently while watching one of the nature channels. Penguins, a species I once thought truly monogamous, turn out to be sly cheaters, several breeds getting a little on the side.
ReplyDeleteThat's what inspired the first of these two final stanzas:
Like penguins we seek one mate to breed
but stray morganatically feeling the need.
Med science allows us at least three lives.
Thrice!
--where formerly one was enough to suffice.
Time to outlast kidneys & brains,
teeth and eyesight as well as our veins.
The vows we make "forever to wed"
grow weak, not unlike the organs we shed.
We'd stay in the chase, oh yeah,
were it not that our legs
cannot. Promises? Heheh.
Good as cracked eggs.
~ OMK
OMK, have you seen this story? Geese are definitely not like penguins.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/goose-spouses-surgery-massachusetts-cape-wildlife-center/
Of course, that was the female goose!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Sandy, it is a sweet story.
ReplyDeleteIt is of course anecdotal. For some years I saw similar stories about penguins.
I don't know that we will be similarly disabused about geese when all the research is in, but for now I will cling to this story of dear goosely compassion!
~ OMK
Here is some interesting y ing background on how AA came about
ReplyDeleteBill W talks to Carl Jung
Wow, Wilbur. I had no idea that Bill felt such a debt to Jung. Did Jung ever reply in any detail??
ReplyDeleteA wonderful letter, Wilbur, and how very interesting that Bill W found such inspiration in Carl Jung!
ReplyDeleteJung, of all men of science, is the closest to a spiritual guru. More than any other, he found connections between scientific research and religious patterns. He was never a believer in any orthodox faith, but found archetypal mysteries that answered questions not solved elsewhere.
~ OMK