The Jabberwocky

Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!”

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought—
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! and through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

“And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
He chortled in his joy.

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

Wow does spellcheck not like Lewis Carroll.

So, Charles Dodgson was a controversial guy. It was rumored he stammered only in the company of other adults and was clear spoken with children. He was a singing, writing, mathematician with an aptitude for charades. Although Dodgson was close to Alice Liddell and the name 'Alice' is layered into the blueprints of his writing-- writing aside from his great Wonderland and Looking Glass masterpieces--Dodgson maintained that Alice Liddell was not his inspiration. Curiouser and curiouser.

However he came upon this collection of sharp, clean, satisfying sounds--it is marvelous. He sustains the clicking exactness of hard rhymes snapping together. It does not matter that the words are jumbled, nonsensical fragments. Each piece lands lightly on its four feet as if it has always been there.

I have been thinking about invention. There is a knuckle cracking pop when a good idea comes bouncing along. A trepidation in committing it to the three dimensional real estate of the Roman alphabet. And then when it works--it is delicious.