“Everybody’s a comedian,” quipped Lisa, unperturbed,
stressing that he meaning of “undulant” is broad enough
to describe both a dancer’s hips and a disease
marked by a fever that continually waxes and wanes.
In ornithological circles, “scapegrace” can also refer
to a loon with a red throat
used in medieval manuscripts
to indicate the contraction of Latin words ending in “-et”
the earliest meaning of which is
“to restore to friendship or harmony.”
I Love Lucy is often seen as a touchstone
for comparison with today’s TV comedy shows,
emphasizing the superficiality or insubstantiality of a thing.
Then a road that bifurcates splits in two, becoming a shop
filled with refrigerator magnets, back-scratchers,
snow globes, and other kickshaws,
all adorned with images of smiling pigs
also known as “shark suckers” or “suckerfish.”
In the afternoon we walked through the idyllic gardens,
noting their prelapsarian charm.
Hungry paparazzi (long, thin, dark fishes)
attached themselves like remoras to celebrities.
The undulant foothills gradually gave way
to the craggy highlands for which Scotland is celebrated.
It’s something ike a test or criterion for determining the quality
or genuineness of a “thing,” (one extended sense of which
means “insolent, smart-alecky, or fresh”)
rubbed, videlicet, on a piece of dark quartz or jasper
that then becomes a portrait, marble statue,
or wax figure representing a person.
“Furca,” as you can probably tell,
gave us our word “fork.”
Otohime 