WRAPPING UP SEPTEMBER

WRAPPING UP SEPTEMBER

  

New term: stodgical lopping place, as in “My writing has come to a stodgical lopping place—my brain is getting stodgy so I’d better cut out working right now.”

 

 

My next poetry compilation will be “Fool’s Errand,” three-line poems which, rather than owing to the haiku tradition, draw more on syllogisms. Or perhaps boxing: boom boom POW. Or maybe the Mafia: “Two to the body, one to the head.” Here’s something that recently went onto a five-by-eight file card, to be put in a three-ring binder with the rest, awaiting final sorting and revision:

 

It’s taken me sixty-one years, and I’m not done yet.

Must men always be a force for farce?

In one womb and out the other.

 

Note that I did NOT say “logical syllogisms.”

 

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Around Middlebury, masses of trees have been showing stress, from the long rainy period then a three-week drought. Now I’m seeing a lot of stress color: leaves that are green except for a bright red border, rather than having a healthy spectrum of hues. I’ll put an example of this at the end.

 

 

       I’m not one of FairPoint’s customers, but I sympathize with those who are. The other day I called a number where the subscriber had decided to use the phone system’s message recording system rather than an answering machine.

       “At the tone, please enter the number of the person you are trying to reach, including the area code,” came the message. I did so. The result was to activate a message that said, “At the tone, please enter the number of the person you are trying to reach, including the area code.”

       For investigative purposes, I entered the number again—all I had to do was push my repeat button—and so did Hal, or whatever obsolete droid they had acquired for the purpose.

       A company that can’t manage an answering service shouldn’t be entrusted with the task of expanding Vermont’s broadband access. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice….

Comments

[Pheromone Cologne]

i enjoy the reading, thank you so much for sharing this knowledge!!
Danielle