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| _floor, botch, infuse, thirty, "bettor" off.Image(s) 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.
A B B I T R
ReplyDeleteB B I T R A
B I T R A B
I T R A B B
T R A B B I
"Mirth on Deadline"
As a reporter I infuse my stories with humor,
and they're better off for it than stale, dry fact.
They may not floor you with laughs, but each consumer
--unless I botch it
(but I'm sure to notch it)--
will be well wiggled by their Puckish impact.
- 30 -
(The numeral "30" is how reporters used to conclude the stories they filed. Some still do. It marked the end of transmission in the days of the telegraph. Some say it was Western Union's code for "The End."
Over the phone, they'd say, "And that's "Thirty"!)
~ OMK
Francis, a fantasy roleplaying fan
ReplyDeleteWent exploring in a wander land.
To infuse some incentive to his play
He'd often gamble his gold coins away.
His character, between dungeon bouts
At inns of ill-reputed would hang out,
And on the floor he'd roll the bones.
He often botched, which caused him moans.
But In Real Life he would also wager,
Betting dimes how the game would waver.
At this he wasn't so far off at a guess,
He'd win twenty or thirty cents a quest!
Clever, quirky, tricky poems, Ol' Man Keith and Owen. Fun applications of the Jumble words, and it's interesting how deliberately off-beat your protagonists are. Very enjoyable--many thanks.
ReplyDelete"Dating"
ReplyDeleteGertie had just turned thirty
and she tended to be a bit flirty.
She wasn't much of a bettor,
but still, a kind of go getter.
She liked a guy on her floor
and decided to knock on his door.
She asked if he'd like to watch
some TV, and share some Scotch.
They could catch the evening news
and she hoped that might infuse
him to choose her as his muse.
This plan they did not botch
and their friendship went up a notch
as romance with the guy next door
slowly began to soar.
For only a year they tarried
and the following Christmas they married.
The arrival of Lois was a welcome infusement of joy
ReplyDeleteFor Charles and Nora and equally welcome was the boy
She'd brought with her. "What name, did you say? I was floored
To get your call. Dinner's so much better now that we have four"
"You must be thirty or more my dear", said Charles with a smile
"You're not far off, uncle" responded Lois, within a mile
Or two. And before I botch things let me introduce my friend Chet.
In my letter I mentioned big changes in my life and he's the best yet".
WC
Misty, clever how you changed the rhyme scheme in the middle. I saw OMK had used ABCCBA the other day as I did last week.
ReplyDeletePerhaps Owen will start a saga on Gambler's Anonymous
WC
Wow, Wilbur, I hadn't realized the Chet and Lois story had been continuing. God to see it.
ReplyDeleteChsrles seems a bit tactless, though, doesn't he.
That was "Good"!
ReplyDeleteJust returned home from a second round of surgery at the dermatologist's. More to come next week. Yeech.
ReplyDeleteLooks like Owen is going in for quirky small-timers these days. First his eccentric Uncle Ned, and now this Francis guy, a cheap-stakes cardsharp & crapshooter.
Glad to know Frank is happy with low earnings. Wouldn't want to see him facing off with James Bond at a hand of Baccarat, or against Sky Masterson in the oldest floating crap game in NY.
Might strain credulity, y'know.
Funny enough as it is. Thanks to the Maestro!
Wilbur ~ Nice to see how you switched the perspective over to Charles and Nora. That re-introduces Lois and Chet in a most engaging way!
As for Misty switching her rhyme scheme, she has been doing that for quite some time, often inserting a triplet among her couplets.
For a moment there, you had me wondering if she was starting to alternate rhymes, such as ABAB, but not yet.
That may be her next step. Maybe holding back with a couplet, to reserve one for a tag. We shall see.
Today's Gertie is a real treat, a pretty "forward" gal.
Not waiting till life comes to her, she prefers to take the bull (er, the neighbor guy) by the horns.
Glad to see things worked out well for the two of them. There are so many ways it could have gone off the rails, but fortunately did not!
~ OMK
OMK, Misty did have ABAB today.
ReplyDeleteI reread Owen and I understand. His "Gambler" is a gamer. Dungeon is for D&D(ragons). Any real gambling is penny ante.
Sandy, I see you like my twist. Girls like Lois often turn to family removed from mom and dad.
There is rehab and recovery groups for addicted gamers
DeleteWilbur, thanks for reminding us that Charles is Lois's uncle. How nice that she has now been able to introduce Chet to her family.
ReplyDeleteOMK, how heroic of you to check in with us after just undergoing a round of surgery. Take good care of yourself on this day of gloomy weather. And thank you for your very, very kind comments.
Wilbur & Misty ~ Sorry. I must be going blind, but I still can't find it.
ReplyDeleteCan you please point out to these old eyes where exactly the ABAB rhyme occurs?
I do see where "floor/door" is followed later on by "door/soar," and "watch/scotch" is followed after an intervening triplet by "botch/notch." These are clever, but still couplets (or broken quatrains?) and not the same thing as an ABAB scheme.
WHERE should I be looking?
~ OMK
Charles is like an uncle. From the history that Lois revealed her immediate family wasn't supportive. I believe Nora is the cousin of Lois' mother.
ReplyDeleteCharles is a nice guy, a little blustery at times much like Rumplole of the Bailey whose outbursts were quickly quelled by "She who must be obeyed"
I liked that picture from 2003 of King Lear aka Keith Fowler
Let's see two mean daughters: Ragan? And ? And the good daughter Orphelia?
I got my Shakespeare from reading xword fav Elia
Thanks for the compliment, Wilbur.
ReplyDeleteGoneril is the other mean daughter. (Great name, eh?)
Cordelia is the good one. She marries the King of France, and returns with the French army to rescue her dad. She saves him, but is herself taken in battle and hanged before a final rescue attempt. Her death is the final blow to Lear. He dies over her body.
Still trying to find an alternating rhyme scheme in Misty's verse.
Help!
~ OMK
Wilbur, try evil Regan and Goneril vs good Cordelia. But they all die in the end anyway!
ReplyDeleteSorry, OMK, I was too slow to respond.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I am unclear.
ReplyDeleteWhen I look for an ABAB scheme, it won’t be found in rhyming couplets.
Misty is doing a neat thing in “mirroring” heroic (rhyming) couplets on either side of a triplet.
But a true ABAB dares to give up the security of couplets altogether. It holds off the rhyming words until every other line.
In my ditty today, I started to do ABAB, but changed in midstream.
Mine today is ABACCB.
Those short "C" lines, ending with "botch it/notch it," are a couplet I had to insert because, frankly, I just couldn't make the second "B" line short enough.
~ OMK
Wilbur, I'm afraid I didn't have an ABAB rhyme scheme in my verse after all today. My apologies if something in my poem mislead you. I did have aabbccddeeeffgghh, if my count is right. I'll see if I can come up with a different rhyme scheme some time this week. I had no idea poetry was so complicated, but am enjoying the lessons I'm getting on this blog.
ReplyDelete