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| _uncle, given, impair, nuance, in (the) running.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.
I guess that has two legitimate, distinct meanings. Didn't find it particularly humorous, though. YMMV.
ReplyDeleteSandy ~ Agree, not funny.
ReplyDeleteBut certainly appropriate, on both levels. Reminds me of the one & only marathon I ran—the first Richmond (VA) marathon, back in ‘79 or ‘80.
Those were the days, my friend….
Today’s Jumble:
For a wrestler,
the smallest handicap
can take one…
“Out of The Running”
His was only a nuance off his usual game,
but it impaired him enough in the ring.
He came from his corner looking so lame,
that the signal was given
—before he was riven!
His team shouted “Uncle” before the first swing.
~ OMK
"Good Job"
ReplyDeleteOur Uncle Fred was given
a chance to improve his living
as long as he would take care
not to impair his lair.
With nuance, he got the job running
with cunning, and a bit of punning,
and the results were surprisingly stunning.
What a splendid little poem, Misty!
ReplyDeleteThe rhythms made it a simple treat.
The first stanza gave us the situation in a no-nonsense, conversational style. The second stanza seemed to explode with its multiple rhymes. I got the impression Fred became a minor whirlwind.
Dust-bunnies, beware!
~ OMK
Thank you for your very kind comments on one of my silliest poems ever. But as you can see, we're going in opposite directions these days: your verses are becoming longer and more complex and fun, and mine are becoming terser and less, well, fun. Your wrestler offering today was a total delight--thank you for that. And do you think my grammar and syntax use is becoming any better? I'm trying, at any rate.
ReplyDeleteYou're quite welcome, Misty.
ReplyDeleteYes, I appreciated the syntax. I know it was just a small piece, but even so, it struck me as crisp and clear.
For what it's worth, this was closer to my taste for simplicity. Nothing fancy or convoluted. As a single sentence, the first stanza could be said in one breath. Even in two rhyming couplets, the rhymes didn't bang you over the head. The second worked in purposeful contrast, by stressing the rhymes with regularity. The beats were steady, not over-extended. You could dance to it.
Sorry to go on about it, but you asked. Does this remind you of class notes?
If I had any caveat, it was to wonder what cunning and punning had to do with house cleaning. But then, I told myself, it was really about using verse (not broom or dust mop) to get the job done.
~ OMK
Thank you, Ol' Man Keith! You've made my day!
ReplyDeleteOh, and thank you for your comment on my wrestler. Yes, I like him too. I think the meter works very well.
ReplyDeleteI find it is too easy to compose lines that have the right meter if said a certain way, but leave open the possibility of saying them a wrong way.
When I'm drafting a piece, I get one way fixed in my head, the way that works just fine. But if I go away from it for a few minutes and then come back to it, I sometimes find that I'm reading it in such a way--a different way--that now the meter does NOT work!
Aargh! I hate when that happens.
--It might be that I had been swallowing between words while composing (creating a pause, a cesura),
and then no longer swallowed on my return reading.
--Or it might be that some words offer alternate accentuations.
--Or it could just be the difference between the hard-edged pronunciation of a character's name ("Jack," say) vs. the softer pronunciation of a pronoun ("he").
The longer the line, the greater the chance to read it with different beats.
The goal must be to write lines that invite a reader to hear them the rhythmically right way. I think today's wrestler works like that.
~ OMK
Made my appointment for Booster #2 this Monday at 10:45.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how many & how often we will be expected to get Covid boosters. It's already more frequent than Flu shots.
~ OMK
I googled, OMK, and here's what I found.
ReplyDeleteho·bo bag
noun
a woman's large shoulder bag with a soft or flexible body that forms a characteristic curve between the two ends of the strap.
"a slouchy blue leather hobo bag"
Etymology is pretty interesting, yes?
Interesting all around. Riddle-solution was obvious.
ReplyDeleteOMK, was that a wrestler or a boxer. The "swing" made it seem like the latter.
I think Lois left me a note re. That mtg she was at with Chet
WC
Ps, I think Misty was just dfunning with the use of cunning piunning. Especially to keep the lair fair and keep the rent from being too dear
Delete"Chet, Uncle Charles told Nora that he heard you were in the running
ReplyDeleteFor that job uptown. I had no nuance you'd applied, did you know?"
" Lois, I was afraid my past would impair me. That news is stunning.
It's a given that Human Resources will often deliver a death-blow."
WC
My goodness, OMK, what a complicated explanation about how the sounds of words influences your creation of rhymes. It makes sense, because I have almost always tried to rhyme words with the exact same sound, but given that rhyming on our Jumble is more relaxed, I too have been taking some liberties with the sounds of words at the end of lines--hence the imperfect rhyming of 'given' and 'living.' Hope that continues to be okay. Also, good luck with you booster shot tomorrow. I've already had 3 Covid injections, all around the same time a year ago in March. Hope they're still all active and working to protect me.
ReplyDeleteGood to have you check in with us, Wilbur, and hope to learn more about Chet and Lois tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteWilbur ~ Looks like Chet is up for a job he wants, but that he did not expect to get. Can't tell that he actually applied for it, so maybe somebody else proposed him, eh?
ReplyDeleteTell me, would any legitimate HR department harm a person's chances because he is in AA?
I had wrestling in mind. It could just as easily apply to a boxer, but you know wrestlers often throw blows. I imagined his opponent getting set to swing a forearm.
~ OMK
Misty ~ To clarify, I am more concerned about how the sounds of words influence rhythm--meter--than rhymes.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to rhymes, I find my ear gets tired quickly with rhyming couplets.
After four or six lines, the rhymes land too often (for my taste). They distract me from the poem's contents. That's why I often use an ABAB scheme rather than AABB. But well-chosen "near-rhymes" can help--as with your "given/living" example.
Not all near-rhymes work so well. If you have more than one syllable, they should be accented the same. I can't suggest any other "rules," as it's a matter of delicate taste.
~ OMK