The alphabet always seemed to have a sort of plot to me. Here’s one possibility. THE ALPHABET It started with abundance beauty and clarity Apples and apricots for all Birds and butterflies in the blue Cats and dogs everywhere But it grew feebler and grayer As it hobbled and inched along It grew jaded and […]
Entries Tagged as '*Words'
The Alphabet
January 26th, 2020 · 3 Comments
Logic and Rhetoric
January 15th, 2020 · 2 Comments
A few entries on logic and rhetoric, from the Scat Noir Encyclopaedia. ALLITERATIVE METONYMY: A rhetorical device in which a noun is replaced by an associated noun beginning with the same letter; for example: It’s a digestion eat digestion world. ANAPHORIC APOSTROPHE: A rhetorical device in which a person not present is addressed repeatedly; for […]
Hoohoo
December 15th, 2019 · 1 Comment
This description of an artificial auxiliary language, which I hope is fictional, was one of my contributions to the Scat Noir Encyclopaedia. This book is still available from Amazon, and provides ample entertainment and instruction. HOOHOO: Hoohoo is an artificial auxiliary language, developed by Dr. Ernst Babner in the early twentieth century. Dr. Babner, a […]
The Song of the Sculptors
December 8th, 2019 · 2 Comments
Here’s a translation of a song by Charle Cros, from Black Scat Review 18. SONG OF THE SCULPTORS (Charles Cros, 1879) Proclaim the principles of art! And shout with all your might! That marble is a stone apart, Because it is so white. Proclaim the principles of art! And fix them in your head! Like […]
Black Scat Review 18
November 17th, 2019 · Comments Off on Black Scat Review 18
Black Scat Review #18 is now available! This jam-packed issue contains four pages of my comic strip “Shorten the Classics,” an excerpt from my translation of Alfred Jarry’s play The Pope’s Mustard-Maker, and my translations of poems by Charles Cros, Jules Jouy, and Laurent Tailhade. You will also find contributions by Mark Axelrod, Angela Buck, […]
Hansel and Gretel and I
October 31st, 2019 · Comments Off on Hansel and Gretel and I
This retelling of the classic tale can be found in my book The Doug Skinner Dossier. Both Hansel and Gretel are based closely on my sister. Here’s how it begins. HANSEL AND GRETEL AND I Hansel and Gretel and I lived with our father and evil stepmother in a little bungalow out near the forest. […]
The Funeral Dinner
October 20th, 2019 · Comments Off on The Funeral Dinner
This unusually brief story appears in my collection Sleepytime Cemetery. It’s short, but long enough for a happy ending. THE FUNERAL DINNER Little Tommy sat under a tree, pulling the wings off flies. When he pulled the wings off one, he tossed it onto the grass, where it died. He then plucked the next one […]
John A. Keel: The Man, The Myths, and The Ongoing Mysteries
October 13th, 2019 · Comments Off on John A. Keel: The Man, The Myths, and The Ongoing Mysteries
Brent Raynes has written a book about my old friend John Keel, called John A. Keel: The Man, The Myths, and The Ongoing Mysteries. It’s not really a biography, but a catalogue of forteana, with John’s theories and opinions about them, as well as interviews with people who knew him, including me. It’s now available on […]
Complements
October 6th, 2019 · 3 Comments
This alphabet appears in The Doug Skinner Dossier. Buy a copy! Buy another copy! COMPLEMENTS Acid — Base Clean — Dirty Empty — Full Glum — Happy Iffy — Just Keen — Listless Messy — Neat Old — Puerile Quiet — Raucous Slim — Tubby Unvoiced — Voiced Wet — Xeric Yawning — Zipped
Acrostic Couplets
September 30th, 2019 · 5 Comments
Acrostics are usually used in longer verses. Here, they’re put to probably unsuitable use. ACROSTIC COUPLETS I mention that it might be fun To eat a picnic in the sun. It would at that, you answer back, So we select some food to pack: A jug of wine, some garlic knots, Some nectarines and apricots. […]