| || dolly, prize, skinny, outage, lounge lizards.
Image from the Internet.
The opening poem contains all the words (or variations of them) from today's Jumble.
Comments are welcomed!
Do not explicitly reveal any of the actual answer words until after closing time, but embedding them surreptitiously in comment sentences is encouraged.
19 comments:
Today's clue words had a (perhaps) strange effect on me--putting me in mind of the terrible fires still raging in beautiful California. Even here in SoCal we have spent recent days with haze blocking the sun.
In my home town, San Francisco, the hazes are so thick, they've been dubbed "Brown Blizzards."
Up in Northern CA, things are worse, especially in the lovely wooded regions where I vacationed as a child. Even then we knew it wasn't wise to build permanent homes there. They would always be vulnerable to natural fires, and on top of that they would be an added danger to the very woods their residents loved.
"Burning California"
Here's the skinny on the power outage
in the northern counties.
PG&E needs to cut back wattage
in its service dollies.
The answer is a planned blackout,
preventing sparks to crack out
& set the woods aflame.
Now customers complain--
"Turn the lights on, please!"--
yet seem to feel no guilt,
living among combustible trees
in homes they should never have built.
~ OMK
Jimmy was slight of build, skinny one would say
By the time he met his bride he was twice her age.
After Aaron introduced them he took her out one day
Later she'd be his partner on the greatest stage.
For she was a social sort and her lounge a success
Among high class types not the lizards of seedy bars.
She'd been married before; two sons she'd been blest
Nevertheless her drawing room attracted the city's stars.
And when the City fell to the fire of British guns
And all were fleeing the city's imminent demise
The hero of the day was spunky Dolly Madison.
Who's grit and gumption secured that valuable prize.
The prize? Check the picture on a dollar bill. "the Stuart painting, a copy of the Lansdowne portrait". I'm guessing it's the one on the Bill.
A neat reminder of an historical close call! Thank you, Wilbur.
Gilbert Stuart did many copies of the famous "unfinished" portrait. I was surprised to see one staring at me when, as a young assistant professor, I turned a corner in the Clark Institute at Williams College. We're so used to seeing him on the dollar, we never expect to see him in real life, so to speak.
I skipped "prize" in my poem. That was an oversight. I guess if I were to insert it in the present context, it would be to point out how stubborn some of the climate change deniers can be, that it would take an enormous governmental effort to prize them from their eco-unfriendly homes.
Exactly the kind of heavy-handed action they see as overreach.
~ OMK
Well, Wilbur, your poem made me look up Dolly Madison, since I knew pretty much nothing about her. Surprisingly, her name is spelled "Dolley" in the Wikipedia article, but all the facts about her life that you put into your poem are described there. Thank you for conjuring up this fascinating bit of historical information.
"Dolly"
Her name befitted Dolly
who was jolly and without folly.
She was clever, smart, and wise.
and so guys thought her a prize
worth much more than a guinea,
she was pretty and nice and skinny.
Had she ever appeared on stage
there would have been joyful outrage,
dressed in her beautiful gowns,
relaxing in her lounge.
And clever as a lizard
she survived a political blizzard.
Dolly, we treasure you
and preserve your history too.
On this day of a crucial debate
it's comforting to recall the late
figures of our history, whom
time has rendered with less doom
attached to their names.
To be reminded of the fame
of dear Dolley
(minus her folly)
I thank both Wilbur & Misty
--and the muses of poesy & hist'ry.
For works of simple beauty,
Bravi tutti!
~ OMK
As I decline into my dotage,
the difference 'tween outrage & outage
escapes my weak eyes,
so it comes as no surprise
I missed it first time through
Misty's WooHoo
to Dolly.
~ OMK
Misty, I too had to wiki DOLLeY. Which led to "Jimmy" and the fierce debates about Confederation vs Union. And a sidebar to the Madison "Butler" Paul Jennings who Daniel Webster bought and freed. The latter wrote an interesting biography that I'm guessing Lin Miranda overlooked in writing Hamilton.
Anybody see that musical?
Also, how quickly did you spot "Dolly" in the poem. I too had to fit PRIZE in at the end. The British did a major fave in wrecking Washington. It already was a wreck and rebuilding it was a godsend.
WC
Ps, I've done the entire week. Misty will get a pleasant surprise on Thursday.
Difficulty level(CC) changes drastically starting Wednesday. Friday especially.
WC
Today's LA Times has an article on tonight's debate, in which they take note of POTUS' ability to keep his base intact as his rabid fans "shrug off outrage after outrage."
I suppose we could say the writers don't see a diminishment in his support, much less an outage.
~ OMK
Yes, it will be a crucial debate,
Keith, thanks for remembering the date.
And, Wilbur, I saw your Dolly
near the end of your poem so jolly.
So, great poetry, fine and dandy,
Thanks, guys--but I miss our Sandy.
Tonight they'll be fire and brimstone
Between cold logic and the over blown
Orange will range twixt ire and jolly
You'll think he's off his dolly
The skinny is old Orange will hog the stage
When cornered watch for fake outrage
But the wily Dem won't take eyes off the prize
He'll corner the old lounge lizard as I surmise
Perhaps dear Sandy will drop by with words perspicacious
Kudos where merited but always loquacious
(Back in the day they say
Nixon won the audio prize,
while Kennedy took it away
for all who preferred to visualize.
Tip: Nixon went the naked vision,
While J FitzG chose a cosmetician.)
I hope they give Biden a cosmetic artist
and a lighting designer who know what they’re doing.
His complexion requires one of the smartest
types of makeup, to prevent the viewing
public from reading his look as washed out.
In real life he may look okay,
but on TV he’s too flushed out
in anemic white & grandpa gray.
He could use side lighting too,
not just flat kliegs from out front.
Let Trump be the bronze Magoo,
all orange w/ his $70K bouffant stunt.
The man has been faking for years.
He comes across as “The Hulk.”
His “look” is the sum of our fears,
w/o purpose, but plenty of bulk.
~ OMK
I haven't disappeared exactly. I do check the site every day, partly because I use it as my source of the jumble for solving. I think you're all fine people, but just, as I said, don't feel that I fit into the blog preoccupations very well any more.
I have overcome my trepidation and started to post a bit more on the Corner, as well as on another, jumble-related, site.
Sandy, we're just having fun in here. We certainly value you and whether here or at CC always look forward to your contributions.
I think you fit in nicely. I thought you'd get a kick out of discovering that "Jimmy" was james Madison and his wife Dolly.
Ps, I've always seen it spelled DOLLY.
WC
I've seen it both ways.
And also, when she was trying her hand at Spanish surrealism, DALI.
~ OMK
Wilbur, I won't, disappear, honest. I just want to comment occasionally on the Jumble and any other issues that people bring up, but I don't want to write poetry or comment on poetry --- except a word or two about Owen's, when he does one, because I'm so glad when he feels up to it, and because his was the original idea of putting subtle clues in poems.
Call me biased, then, but I just don't want to go down that rabbit hole.
And I'm so upset about the debate right now that I can't even think straight.
Sandyanon, stay strong, and stay with us--no need to do poetry, just give us your comments and ideas, which we cherish and appreciate.
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