All hints are in the comments!

Thursday, November 18, 2021

18 Nov. 2021

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|Smiley face| _taken, liner, comedy, bobble, born to be "mild".
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.

11 comments:

Sandyanon said...

Mildly taken with the intended comedy here.

Ol’ Man Keith said...

Same here, Sandy; I think the current expression is, “Meh”…

FLN, Misty ~ My guy fancied himself a modern crusader, bent on cleaning out Hell itself.
He overestimated his powers, finding he is barely able to pull himself out of the Styx.
(Good thing it was only a dream, eh?)

R.I.P. RMS Queen Elizabeth (I)
I had never taken a voyage
before sailing on the liner,
QE-One. Festive foliage
traced her decks. No finer
ship than she
plied the sea
in her day. Her crew’s bonhomie
graced our five-day cross with comedy.

Our cabin was way, way down
on “D” Deck, by the “gyro-Hubble,”
which rolled & groaned around
whenever the keel bobbled,
swayed by a wave.

”Liz” was born to be brave,
carried troops for a song,
offered grand postwar cruises,
was turned to other uses,
then burned & sank at Hong Kong.
1938-1972 R.I.P.
~ OMK

Misty said...

"Lucky Day"

Tina at first was taken
when an earthquake her home had shaken.
All the furniture started to bobble
making Tina have to hobble
as if she were on an ocean liner
while trying to get to her diner.
In the end, the quake was just comedy
and not a worrisome drama play,
and so Tina was not at all riled
and thankful her experience was mild.

Ol’ Man Keith said...

Tina prob’ly lives in SoCal
the last 25 years or so.
She feels the kind of tremors
the way our earthquakes go.

Between our poems, Misty,
all the “J”s are heard,
including what I missed—
your very last word.
~ OMK

Sandyanon said...

Re the Corner and today's comments:

Wilbur, I was happy to read that you also saw 'improvs' as a noun; did a mental double take when I read that MalMan saw it as a verb!

I can relate to Lowell's poem very well in one way -- my life today is pretty monotonous and homebound. I sometimes wonder how I did everything in years past, with job, child rearing, social life and all. From my vantage point today it looks like a whirlwind of activity.

But in contrast to Amy, I find today's life relaxing and fairly enjoyable, whereas earlier I found life to be often very stressful. I'm sure that personality type is the determining factor in those reactions. What do you think?

Ol' Man Keith said...

Sandy ~ Sorry! I know you addressed your note to Wilbur, but I thought it might be helpful if I chime in, only because the word is in my field.
Just to add a word of support: In theater practice, we definitely use "Improv" as both a noun and a verb. In 50 years, I have rarely heard the full word, "improvisation."
"Improvise," yes, on occasion.
But when referring to the creation itself, it is almost always an "improv."
~ OMK

Sandyanon said...

Well, OMK, as you point out, it can be noun or verb. I was just surprised when MalMan assumed it must have been used as a verb.

Misty said...

Ol' Man Keith, how lucky you had a chance
to enjoy the sweet romance
of a journey on the Queen,
what a pleasure that must have been.
And with all those J words you filed,
never mind about the "mild."

Ol' Man Keith said...


Well, it may seem unusual, but I understood MalMan's mindset.
In his mind's ear, he was probably hearing "He or she improvs..." for somebody who ad libs or makes up something.
One could say "He improvs a scene" in place of "He acts a scene."
That may in fact be more common than to refer to an improvised scene--an "improv"--as an "act." I think of "act" a bit more technically, as a part of a formal, scripted play.

Ah, but then, when. somebody puts on a fake attitude, a false show, we call that an "act."

Hmm. Six of one...
~ OMK

Ol' Man Keith said...

Yep, Misty that was in September of 1960, five days from New York to Le Havre and Southampton.
It was my introduction to British seamanship. The original "Queen Elizabeth" was the largest passenger ship in its day, named not for the great Tudor queen, but for the very popular Queen Mum.

The staff and crew were all smiles and helpfulness when it came to us passengers, but extremely strict with one another.
One of the most telling moments occurred the second day out, during our midday luncheon service. One of the waiters on the far side of the room dropped something--a small pot or plate--that made a crashing sound. Suddenly, ALL of the staff froze in place. Silence.
It was such a startling stillness that we stopped chatting and chewing.
It was totally quiet for at least 5 seconds, maybe longer.
My sympathy went out to the poor oaf who had committed the blunder.
It spoke volumes about British service.

That was one sign of what I was heading into. The other was the hard, crisp toilet paper in the loo.
Things have changed since that time. Not necessarily for the better....
~ OMK

Misty said...

What a delightful interesting and, I have to say funny, ship story, OMK. Hope that poor waiter survived the trip and kept his job. And amazing that you retained a memory of the toilet paper. That was some trip!