shoots shots shoots

after the meridian

shoots spied at the base

of the beech

pale stalks

not even verdant

harbingers

just a bath of sun

and presto

lookie here

news of a shooting spree

shots fired

near Stuttgart

origin: stud garden, we are told

life lived

a few letters

transposed

reposed

all the difference

detritus

the detritus of winter rising up like pacific atolls volcanic garbage not even a rousing rain can wash away can clean cleanse as in a rite of absolution ego te absolvo the melted snows dribble down the hill tipperary hill and you get surprised seeing anything a squashed plastic bottle invitations to subscribe the head of a child's smiling stuffed pal a flattened pancake fabric why the smile the vacant stare along with beer cans and bottle caps and runaway trash can covers branches leaves all tawny almost colorless not even teasing spring so monochrome so much dogshit on the curbs and near the sidewalks winter's borders dogshit being erased and dogshit not at all evaporated dogshit stubbornly still just dogshit some definition some definition called for here detritus I had thought it was pronounced more like the latin more like deh-tri-tiss with the accent on the deh now there's de treatise eh didn't know it almost sort of rhymes with detroit us unfortunately no disrespect implied inferred or insinuated to a town i've never been to and why does merriam-webster say the plural is detritus and not detriti as latin would dictate take a letter or two detritus funny how one word one flotsam jetsam sort of word can just set a laughorist off and running at the keyboard

Biological Passport

"Biological passport" is a term being used by antidoping watchdogs in the world of sports. It refers to a blood profile of an athlete, which is compared with a baseline to see if he or she is employing some banned additive for a competitive edge, which is of course what athletes have always done, more or less, haven't they?

Biological passport.

As you know, The Laughorist is constantly alert to new and delicious words or phrases. I'm a one-man lowercase wordie, the way some call themselves foodies.

Biological passport.

Does it give me entry to another biological country hitherto forbidden?

Does a biological passport (with the proper visa) offer something meta-logical in the realm of life as we know it?

Is it the sine qua non of life embedded into our DNA at the moment of conception?

Alternatively, is it death, our transport to another realm beyond this one?

Who stamps the biological passport?

Who are its border guards, the polizei of polarity?

How do you apply for a biological passport, and what happens if your application is turned down?

Constantine's Sword

I am just back from a spontaneous viewing of James Carroll's Constantine Sword.

I had brought along the DVD to a men's group at my church. At our last meeting, one of the men had talked about seeing it, so I retrieved it from the Hazard Library today (that's the name of the branch, named after a person, not a risk). So we decided to watch it.

There we were, seven or eight Episcopalian guys, none under 60, some war veterans, transfixed by a powerful documentary.

Left almost speechless.

Solipsism, Exposed.

Today, Father Jim B., in a teaching before the Celebration of the Eucharist, quoted a phrase attributed to Martin Luther (some say it goes back to Saint Augustine):

incurvatus in se

This lusciously descriptive Latin phrase describes a life turned so inward upon itself as to exclude God and others: sin, by any other name (solipsism, if you prefer).

folderol

Above the fold. Under the fold. At the fold. You knew what was next:

folderol

I searched for folderol (Searching for Folderol, now there's a title for an autobiography!) at Merriam-Webster.com, and came up with the following:


One entry found.
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Folderol
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Main Entry:
fol·de·rol
Pronunciation:
\ˈfäl-də-ˌräl\
Variant(s):
also fal·de·ral \ˈfal-də-ˌral\
Function:
noun
Etymology:
fol-de-rol, a nonsense refrain in songs
Date:
circa 1820
1 : a useless ornament or accessory : trifle
2 : nonsense


Don't you just love the BizRate ad?

"Save on Folderol"?

What's the going rate on folderol these days? With so much around, I'd think it was pretty cheap.

Below the Fold

If, as noted in post ex parte a priori:

Above the fold is an expression rich in meaning, conjuring metaphors financial, erotic, biological, psychological, historical, chronological, sporting, physical, metaphysical, informational, categorical, theological, semantic, and musical. Connotations, denotations, and illustrations also abound in the world of fashion, clothing, and tailoring; or baking; or sheep-herding.

. . . then it stands to reason (or stands to emotion; though neuroscientists increasingly tell us there is no difference between reason and emotion; these are Aristotelian impositions, labels) that below the fold conjures metaphors scatological, Earthy, apocalyptic, illiquid, liquid, Venusian, recondite, illusory, underdoggerel (or is that subcaninic?), impish, secondary, tertiary, secretive, preternatural, fecund, fetid, and nascent.

Below the fold.

I like to read below the fold as well as above the fold.

It is most difficult to read or discern precisely at the fold itself. Perhaps at the fold is the most cogent metaphor for our current times.