The Saga of Polly: from FAT to FABULOUS!

Jazz Cat (for Bill Prouten)

JAZZ CAT

a true jazz cat can live in the moment

able to duly see

the sweet mauve haze of an unadorned blessing

the fruit of an angel tree

and when he plays he plays like a tiger

a jungle cat slinking wild

and when he plays he moves like a cobra

and laughs like a wayward child

there is no now just a moving abstraction

there is no then or when

there is an is, unfolding in rhythm

in which we are born again

it’s true that some hearts chime to the music 

it’s true that some cats know

and play the pulse of divine recreation

(as above. . . so below)

The Invention of the Saxophone

i don’t know who invented this 

reflexive question mark of an instrument 

but i think it was a good thing 

for it’s great to look at, 

with fat keys like frog eyes 

and a big bell like royal jelly 

you could keep flowers in there if you wanted to, 

extra socks 

or even a clock 

Snakes kink too 

and this sound is snakey 

purply mauve as the deepest bruise 

and raunchy 

as a man in love 

smoked as some cat of the night 

disappearing over a fence 

it makes leaps 

(but only because it has to) 

There is no 

morning saxophone 

this is a sound that 

pulls the shades down 

a hangover 

howl 

fading to twilight 

or the blackmost 

belly button 

of the night 

Few can wrap their lips around 

this gooseneck 

without some harm coming to them 

for this is an instrument 

with a long history of 

hollowing out 

all but the most hardy 

Bird flew into a pane 

of glass and was 

smashed 

we don’t know why it does this to people 

(maybe it was mad at him 

for taking it all to such extremes) 

but how could you blow this thing 

halfway 

i ask you 

how could you rear back 

in some great pained whiplash of the spine 

without a sense of 

terrible commitment 

i never much cared for 

saxophones myself 

until i heard one blown correctly at last 

jazz is a genre i will never understand 

but perhaps that’s good 

for like the priesthood, one must enter into it 

without question 

reservation 

or doubt

Happy 2020!

 

 

It's going to take some time before I stop putting a dash between those 20s (20-20)! In any case, Harold can't see 20-20 without his famous glasses.  But it's nice for him that we're once more living in the "20s". It's been a long time, eh, Harold? About 100 years. 

 

Blippo the Builder: ripoff of a blip-off

Some time ago, while researching old, creepy doll gifs and vintage YouTube commercial vids to scare the living crappola out of my sweet little grandchild, I came across a lot of things. The doll ads were the best: Betsy Wetsy (who wets her betsy), Tickles who screams with uncanny laughter when she is tickled, and Bonny Bride who glides along on a wheeled contraption under her wedding gown and hurls her bouquet from a springloaded arm.

Some of the old toys I hadn't heard of however, including one construction set called Blippo the Builder. Looked like a cross between Dinky toys and the old Meccano set my brothers owned.

But then I got a good look at Blippo. Ye gods! Where had I seen that face before??

YES!

Whoever designed Super Mario Brothers, whether consciously or unconsciously, ripped off the likeness of Blippo. It simply couldn't be anyone else. Same hat, same overalls, same moustache, same EVERYTHING.

This will haunt my dreams.

Things you would like to say

The Troll Doll Channel: TREASURE TROVE! SIX new Dams in costume!

Hula Cats Christmas

Bentley destroys the Christmas tree

Christmas ambush: Bentley attacks!

Christmas Cats: Victorian Greeting Cards

"OUT, SANTA!" (Christians just HATE Christmas!)

Not a big surprise that  everything is pagan at this time of year, even the supposed "birthday" of Jesus! Yet Christ still remains in Christmas. This is taken from an atheist webpage:

Christmas Tree: It is a 17th-century, pagan, German tradition, of bringing greenery into the home, as a symbol of the spring yet to come. 

Yule Log & Mistletoe: The Celts and Gaels burned logs as a druidic solstice ceremony to cleanse the past year and welcome the new. And they gathered mistletoe for the festival of Alban Arthuan (or Yule) ~ First described in writing by Roman historian Pliny the Elder (Gaius Plinius Secundus AD 23 – August 25, AD 79). 

Father Christmas or Santa Claus: He is a mashup of the tale of the Turkish Saint Nicholas and the German, Kris Kringle or the Dutch, Sinterklaas.

Midwinter festivals: “If you happen to live in a region in which midwinter brings striking darkness and cold and hunger, then the urge to have a celebration at the very heart of it to avoid going mad or falling into deep depression is very, very strong.” ~ Ronald Hutton, a historian at Bristol University. 

Christmas Day: The Bible gives no reference to when Jesus was born. It was marked on at least three different dates: 29 March, 6 January, and sometime in June. It wasn’t until Pope Julius I, in 340 AD, who moved it to 25 December. This was conveniently used to convert pagans, since it coincided with two major pre-Christian festivals: Roman Bacchanalia, or Saturnalia, and various Yule celebrated by the Norse, Gaels, & Celts.

Stockings and Gift-Giving: A mashed up tradition of St. Nicholas tossing coins down the chimney of the needy families and of setting out shoes with hay in so Odin’s horse Sleipnir would leave them treats. 

Caroling: It started in Victorian England, every holiday had door-to-door singing well-wishers.

Every, single, Christmas tradition was taken from a pagan tradition or religion. For fun, read about Isis & Horus; Devaki & Krishna; and Anahita & Mithra…all which predate christianity, and detail immaculate births of a savior. And, 16th Century Protestants in England and New
England even forbade celebrating the holiday. 

HAPPY FESTIVUS!