To Daffy Doff a Mornin's Tipsied Cocked Hat to Bubblin' Birds:

To Daffy Doff a Mornin's Tipsied
Cocked Hat to Bubblin' Birds

Starlings [come and] go in
[now such friendsome] flocks.

---Anonymous

I have just seen [the able
Shakespeare's starlings].

---Ovid

Of a mornin', eye
the sidewalk starlings;

Mind how bloody merry
those fair critters is---

Such neighborly, such
buoyant darlings

So pack-charged with piss
and vinegar ...

As well their feisty,
fabulous fizz.

About This Poem

About the Author

Country/Region: USA

Comments

purplemoondoll

17 years 11 months ago

The starlings nesting in the

The starlings nesting in the roof next door are a pain in the ***** in the morning. They eat everything and I mean everything I put out for the birds, leaving nothing for the others. I hear them 'screaming' now as dusk approaches. I love to watch them but I wish they did not try to hog the garden so much. I particularly like the second to last stanza :-). As always it's a pleasure to read your work. Kaz It's impossible to smile on the outside without feeling better on the inside.

barbsdad2003

17 years 11 months ago

I tried---and I think ...

succeeded---to imbue a certain starling (and I do mean starling, not sterling) flavor to the piece. From how you comment on the birds, I can tell you have experienced them up close and personal. Thanx for the visit, the personal sharing ... and the heartfelt comment. All yours, Chuck

infinite_dwarf

17 years 11 months ago

Chuck

You always come up with some of the coolest titles. Did you mean 'those fair critters are' (instead of is?) Very entertaining little write here, my friend. ~Jess K. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ~ "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." - Thomas Jefferson ~ "Tonight's forcast: dark, continued dark tonight, turning to partly light in the morning..." - George Carlin

barbsdad2003

17 years 11 months ago

No, I was funnin' ... and meant ...

See below.

barbsdad2003

17 years 11 months ago

No, I meant the is for to rhyme ...

with the fizz. It's also a distant play (perhaps a too faint satire?) on the italicized mention of Shakespeare, the one who presumably knows (knew?) proper English as she's proper spoke and writ. Thanx, Chuck

weirdelf

17 years 11 months ago

Oh Chuck,

you know how good you are. And this is as good as any. Why fuck with our heads with the anachronistic: I have just seen [the able Shakespeare’s starlings]. —Ovid ? Feels a bit like smartass trying to see if the ignorant masses pick it up. Shakespeare only said "I’ll have a starling shall be taught to speak" about starlings (as far as I know, please correct me). I seldom criticise you Chuck but this feels like obscurantism. I dislike such poets as Auden for relying on classical references for meaning in their poetry, while I never object to words that can be looked up in a dictionary. (I still feud with you that the word billabong belongs to the Aboriginals and means "place of water" and is not a billabong if it is dry gulch) I think the poem would stand beautifully as it is, without any of the precursors. cheers, Jess

barbsdad2003

17 years 11 months ago

Two points I make with my reference to ...

"able Shakespeare's starlings": ("Able" here, incidentally, is intended to modify the word Shakespeare's; although if it were construed to modify "starlings," I wouldn't be mortally aggrieved.) 1) Shakespeare did---at least the one time anyway---mention the starling, as you indicate. 2) I understand that the person who brought the starling forerunner first to U.S. shores was, in his twisted way, honoring Shakespeare, unleashing on the North American continent those feisty little birds (and other birds mentioned in Shakespearean writings). The gregarious starlings are birds that, by the way, I love to watch. I've no quarrel with starlings at all. Nor with Shakespeare. Thanx, Chuck PS: You also might note in the piece the intertwining of the birds being sighted with a state of morning tipsiness associated with too much drink on the part of the witness. An arbitrary connection I can't ably explain, I'm afraid. Not to mention that Ovid lived too long before Shakespeare's time and so could not have known of Shakespeare. Or even of England. Or the United Kingdom. Or most of the world, for that matter. (And certainly not of the incredibly fascinating Australia, I add with a chuckle. (Ah, well, his loss.))

weirdelf

17 years 11 months ago

odd, I took able to be in reference to Shakespeare

but as an adjective meaning competent. The formatting of the quote does make it seem that Shakespeare and Ovid are somehow related. While I always applaude your wordplay and stunning conterpointing of ideas, it is dangerous, if not downright misleading, to misquote in this way. cheers, Jess

barbsdad2003

17 years 11 months ago

I do it ...

because I can---and for the sheer fun of doing it. (Literary license run amok, I suppose.) And in spite of my comment here, I'm not so arrogant as that may make me seem to others. (I've been known to misquote myself, too, from time to time.) Yours, Chuck PS: As a matter of fact, misquotes are routinely passed off as accurate ... by the press, by rumor, by innuendo. It's for good reason American courts don't allow what's termed hearsay evidence to come before a jury. (I can't count the number of times I've been misheard ... and thus misquoted. Happens all the time. I usually mostly take offense when the person doing the mishearing refuses to believe my correction following the misunderstanding/mishearing on his/her part.) My point is that people assume they quote accurately ... even when they don't. And it seems to be human nature that belief/assumption trumps fact almost every time. One example of that being entrenched religion(s). PPS: And just FYI, since you seem unable (or unwilling) to notice, I do not here do something dangerous (perish the thought/feeling/sense), nor is what I do at all in any way misleading; neither can you point to anywhere on this site that I misquote anyone in the slightest. PPPS: "A perfect Judge will read each work of Wit With the same spirit that its author writ: Survey the Whole, nor seek slight faults to find Where nature moves, and rapture warms the mind." ---A. Pope