Doily at the nose

[Roy Hobbs]

It has come to me, perhaps from Levana
in a dream-- that 'doily at a nose' is
ok.

Just so, a firecraker about to explode
stuck in the left nostril.

Levana said, "Nothing in a poem can be
doubted because it's all lies anyway."

Poetry has no truth function, just as it
has no teaching function. DeQuincey-- in
his essay, "Didactic Poetry."

Levana had me. "Mister Hobbes. I far more
enjoy your poem about General Patton build-
ing barges for Cleopatra than the one where
he gives up command of the Third Army.

... and the one about the Orient Express
going through Canada, Vancouver to Nova
Scotia than the poem about Agatha's killers."

... and Emerson wrote nasty letters to Emily
Dickinson, and that Dr. Johnson revealed his
"amorous' propensities to his mother rather
than to David Garrick.

Veridical necessity is the last necessity
required from a poem-- but Levana and I have
a 'thing,' so it was natural that she come to
me and excuse my 'doily.'

And Levana always dresses in blue when she's
serious--

"En lieu de bleu, dame, vous vestez vert."

rh

[abu nuwas]

Is this going to be a doily thing?

[Roy Hobbs]

Your paronomasia, as your parataxis,
shall be for three days concealed--
then I shall announce it to the world--
one, a matter of Hemingway (parataxis)
verses Henry James (hypotaxis), the
other, paronomasia, a trope or rhetorical
scheme.

Thanks for your reply, dear sir.
Two old-timers as we are can only
'sit and bray like grandsires cut
in alabaster'( from Shakespeare, but
I don't remember where),

rh

[billy]

Is this going to be a doily thing?

a french doily thing

[Erthona]

One can pick whatever universe one wants to write within it is true,
however, one must be consistent within that arena.
No clocks did ring in Jules Caesar's time,
and Cleopatra did not wear a Merkin on her head!

[abu nuwas]

'Versus' do you intend?

About my age, old bean, old fruit,
Roy,
I do not care; nor do I need,
(For I am coy, old thing, old top)
Reminding of that Mr D-----
(Bang on the very stroke of noon)
For him I heed; full stop is he,
(And I shall hit the buffers soon.)

[billy]

i was just about to say the same thing.

didn't they have people with bells ringing out the time in roman times?
and if a rose is still a rose by any other name, what is a lowly wig
invented (allegedly) by the Egyptians and wore through all strata of society...including whores
of which cleo was surely one, wealthy indeed and of high rank but aren't so many wig wearing hookers

[Roy Hobbs]

'Versus' do you intend?

About my age, old bean, old fruit,
Roy,
I do not care; nor do I need,
(For I am coy, old thing, old top)
Reminding of that Mr D-----
(Bang on the very stroke of noon)
For him I heed; full stop is he,
(And I shall hit the buffers soon.)

your lines, these and others, are so
melodic--were you a dancer?

rh

[abu nuwas]

I do not dance, I do not dance; dance I do not do;
Why would I in some noisy room, or in a big marquis?
Why do the women coax me up, to crush their feet and shoes;
Unless by chance, unhappy chance, it is some special 'you'.

'Tis better by miles, by miles and miles, to stay away from the din,
To talk and to drink, to drink and to talk, with smiles, and smiles and smiles.
So no, and no, and no! Yes no, no no; though I say it with a grin
-I do not dance.

[Roy Hobbs]

I do not dance, I do not dance; dance I do not do;
Why would I in some noisy room, or in a big marquis?
Why do the women coax me up, to crush their feet and shoes;
Unless by chance, unhappy chance, it is some special 'you'.

'Tis better by miles, by miles and miles, to stay away from the din,
To talk and to drink, to drink and to talk, with smiles, and smiles and smiles.
So no, and no, and no! Yes no, no no; though I say it with a grin
-I do not dance.
********
Fred and Ginger, I think it was.

"I won't dance, don't ask me."

[Erthona]

I'll take mine with Ginger!