Scesis Onomaton (ske’-sis-o-no’-ma-ton): 1. A sentence constructed only of nouns and adjectives (typically in a regular pattern). 2. A series of successive, synonymous expressions.
Big dreams. Piled promises. Cautious optimism Why? “Because, because, because, because, because.” I learned this wise saying from being a scarecrow, looking for The Wizard of Oz with loony. Dorothy and the crew. She’s trying to provide a justification for going to Oz to see the Wizard. Dorothy, our leader, is still high on opium poppies so it takes her awhile to disclose the foundation of the justification. Her crew, the Scarecrow (me), Tin Man, and the Lion are immune to the effects of opium, but we are hesitant to speak over her due to her singleminded commitment to going to Oz. The Scarecrow (me) has some brains and could probably fill in the blank, but I know Dorothy would admonish me for being a know-it-all, which as a matter of fact Dorothy was. If she had’t rescued me from crows pecking at me in a corn field, I would’ve taken off days ago. The Tin Man and Lion were too stupid to realize that Dorothy had snagged them when they were down and out, and like a good cult leader had pumped up their self-esteem by making empty promises—courage for the Lion, a heart for the Tin Man. Absurd! She promised me a brain. I knew I already had one. I knew Dorothy was full of shit and just bossed the three of us around to serve her obsession to go to Oz to fulfill her self-absorbed fantasy of getting back home to Kansas. I considered sabotaging her by cluing in the Tin Man and the Lion that the real reason for going to Oz, and following the Yellow Brick Road, was all about Dorothy’s selfish desires.
So, as we’d just emerged from the poppy field and could see Oz in distance, Dorothy snapped out of her daze and began to sing:
“If ever a wiz there was
If ever, oh ever a wiz there was
The Wizard of Oz is one because
Because, because, because, because, because
Because of the wonderful things he does
We’re off to see the Wizard
The wonderful Wizard of Oz”
“Oh my,” she yelled. So now we knew, it’s “because of the wonderful things he does.” I asked Dorothy: “Can you give me an example?” She told me to shut up and keep walking. I did.
We got to the Oz city gates and headed to the Wizard’s palace. He was drunk and had a hot-looking munchkin on each knee. They were singing an off-color song about lollipops. The Wizard said “What do you sorry looking stooges want?” “I want to go back to Kansas,” said Dorothy, pulling the lollipop out of the Wizard’s hand. “What do I look like United Airlines?” The Wizard asked. Dorothy yelled “You bastard! You’re nothing but a con artist.” “So what? This is Oz. Get used to it—you’re not in Kansas any more, baby.” Said the Wizard with a scornful look on his face.
That was that. We had to get jobs. I found a field where I could set up a scare crow operation. The Cowardly Lion joined a small traveling circus. The Tin Man became a mime performer in Oz Square. He would chop wood and oil himself and have his picture taken by tourists. Dorothy didn’t do too well, as a “normal” human, she had trouble finding a job. She worked as a towel dryer in a car wash. Then she worked pumping septic tanks. Her last job was working in the emerald mines where she met the millionaire munchkin Yelson Popchick and married him. She still wants to go back to Kansas, but alas, it will never be. She has started a movement to impeach the Wizard of Oz. She will fail because, because, because, because, because.
Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu)
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