| || naval, livid, gather, rotate, hand it over.
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.
12 comments:
Okay, call me dense, but I don't get the cartoon. The solution, yes, but what does a crown have to do with anything?
Oh wait! Took another look. That is the most uncrownlike crown!!! And I don't think it really adds anything meaningful, does it?
{shrugs}
I think I get extra cranky when I'm sleepy.
Where sports fan gather in TV-screened bars,
There are always arguments, tho never wars.
Fans get livid about whose teams are best,
Then they play each other, and put it to rest.
The sports rotate as their seasons are thru,
But there are always rooters to down the brew.
No navel-gazers here. These are the men
Who know a hard day's work from end to end!
Thru baseball, basketball, football, hockey,
With breaks for horse races, soccer for the Cockneys.
Underhand pitching for softball, overhand, hardball,
When it's sports they don't play, they want it all!
The girl is wearing the mitt as a crown. A dumb thing to do, but what else would a little girl do with a baseball glove? The solution is so meh tho, that any humor escapes me. She's wearing a hand over her head?
"Handing Over the Sword"
The Russian masses gathered out in the streets
of Petersburg and Moscow, livid at the news
of the demise of their great Pacific fleet.
Hadn't the Czar vowed, "The beastly Jap shall lose"?
From the Baltic down to Cape Town, and up again,
six months had transpired for the great crates
to cross the Indian Ocean and close on Japan.
Now the battlewagons entered narrowing straits.
It stands as the last of the great naval victories
--for the Japanese, lying in wait till the Russian snake
pushed its nose to open sea,
then they "crossed the Russians' 'T'."
Old Ivan made a kindergartener's mistake.
Russkies followed the leader, all in a line,
unable to fire, from their turrets, ahead,
while Capt. Togo's turrets rotated just fine,
blasting abeam at each Russian with lead.
The Russian fleet surrendered. "Oh, the shame, oh Hell!"
to let the "little monkeys" win the day--and the war!
Teddy Roosevelt wrought the peace, and won the Nobel.
Was it time--Perhaps--to stop trusting the Czar?
~ OMK
Loved seeing all the Jumble words in your clever poem, Owen, many thanks for that treat. And, my goodness, Ol' Man Keith, I got so engrossed in your epic history that I didn't even bother to look for the words. An amazing feat for this morning---Wow!
So here comes the daily poetic junk:
"Animal Poetry"
Stanford kept a stable
for animals that were not naval.
Together he would them gather
to chatter and climb up the ladder.
Some of them would pivot
which made others mad and livid.
But they were allowed to rotate.
something Stan would notate.
He was such an animal lover
that over them he would hover
and never hand them over.
His only fault over time
was that he was lousy with rhyme.
Strange, isn't it?
How random words trigger memories & lead us to story lines seemingly out of the blue?
I have been interested in the Battle of Tsushima since I researched Japanese history for my staging of Flight of the Sea Warriors back in 1981. (or '82).
Admiral Togo's famous "crossing of the T" led to the quick defeat of the enormous Russian "punishment" mission and, incidentally, to Japanese faith in the righteousness of a sudden naval attack as a strategic device to teach a lesson to arrogant imperial westerners.
What America later used as a morale-booster in WW2, the Allies' condemnation of Japan's "sneak attack" at Pearl Harbor, the tiny island nation saw as a justified tactic for handling foreigners who for decades had disrespected their rights within their "natural" sphere of influence.
~ OMK
BTW, Japan had intended to give warning before the attack at Pearl, but only at the very last minute. It turned out their Washington embassy mis-timed the processing of the Declaration of War, so it was delivered after the assault was well under way.
Thus, FDR was able to denounce Japan for the "Day of Infamy."
Misty ~ At first I assumed "Stanford" was the university, and I tried to think of a legit scientific experiment calling for land-based animals to climb & pivot on ladders.
Then I saw "Stan" as just a guy who was stuck with angry animals that were forced to deal with a ladder (maybe on their way to meals, or to bed?
Or to Stanford U to volunteer in a Science dept?).
Still Stan loved his wards, so he wouldn't dream of "hand[ing] them over" (but to whom?! Argh?!!)
I finally threw in the metaphoric towel--and took refuge (figuratively speaking) in your last line. That you, as creator, being also (in your own estimation) "lousy with rhyme," you simply went Wherever, so probably have no answers to my puzzlement.
Was I finally on target?
~ OMK
Yes, your last assumption is totally correct, Ol' Man Keith. This morning's words were so difficult to rhyme and were so difficult to connect in a narrative that I just let the words dictate a crazy rhyme. But I'm considering whether I should follow your and Owen's practice of forming a rhyme around some interesting topic or story and then working the words into it, wherever they may work. But I fear that might take me much longer, and I usually have other tasks in the mornings that would then fall behind. But I might give it a try next week.
Where is Wilbur, by the way? I miss his poetic stories.
Owen ~ How nice, in this time of fierce division--the eve, as some would have it, of civil war--to read your poem celebrating sports rivalries that don't rise to real anger or hatred.
Thank you for that.
Maybe it should become a new requirement for all who aspire to serve in the House or Senate. Unless physically incapacitated, they MUST join one of their party's sports teams and MUST play a full series of games with the opposite party.
And let the umpires be their spouses!
Ω
I dunno, Misty. I miss his tales too. He pops in every 3rd day or so, but I think he feels the muses are passing him by.
I get that. You know I keep wanting to take a break. But I'll spot a word or two that give me an idea, and I think, "Well, I'll just give it 5 minutes & see if anything occurs to me."
More often than not, something does occur--and then I can't leave it hanging in mid-process. Damn!
Please do give it a shot. See if it makes your poetry time more enjoyable. Or not. You can't know until you try. But you can always revert to rhyming the clue words whenever you want. Or rhyme some and not others.
~ OMK
If anyone is interested, here is an introduction to the naval maneuver mentioned in my poem today. This is an animated explanation of the 1904-05 Russo-Japanese War.
I think the whole thing is interesting, but if you would like to view the famous "Crossing of the T," set the YouTube time marker to 13:20. This will bring you into the battle at Admiral Togo's FIRST crossing.
He actually crossed the Russian "T" TWO times. The second crossing will show soon after you start playing the video.
This maneuver was possible because of the speedier Japanese battleships. Through a treaty, these were British-built.
Here is the video: Battle of Tsushima Strait
Happy sailing!
~ OMK
Misty, thank you for thinking of me. I've been running around and solve the J tho sometimes not grok'ing the riddle-solution.
I believe that treaty took place at Bretton Woods, NH where I spent time in the 90s.
Sandy had a good point about the Glove/crown and the "hand".
Misty, I agree rhyme will carry you along to places you didn't know you were going to.
My poetry cones in spurts so let's see what next week brings.
WC
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