Category Archives: allusion

Allusion (ə-ˈlü-zhən):[1] A reference/representation of/to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art . . . “a brief reference, explicit or indirect, to a person, place or event, or to another literary work or passage”. It is left to the reader or hearer to make the connection . . . ; an overt allusion is a misnomer for what is simply a reference.[2]

Lincoln was on a roll. No, he wasn’t playing dice. He wasn’t sitting on a hot cross bun. He wasn’t at an amusement park riding the roller coaster. He wasn’t rolling along, singing a song, He wasn’t in New Jersey eating pork roll. He couldn’t do any of these things because he’s dead and buried somewhere in Illinois (I think). The one roll he can do is metaphorical: he can roll over in his grave, and that means that things have fallen so far out of synch with its founding ethic, his Republican Party has been hit by a shockwave like the electrical impulse that brought Frankenstein to life: that’s what it takes to get Lincoln to roll over in his grave: a million-watt shock switched on by Donald Trump. But who cares if he’s rolling over in his grave? It does not matter—it’s the Republican Party, not the Lincoln Party, tangled up by Gettysburg or Ford’s Theatre.

What does it mean to call the Republican Party the GOP? GOP: back in the day: Grand Old Party. Now: Goosestepping Old Pricks. See? Things change. But they change because people want them to, and change isn’t inherently good or bad, it just makes things different, for better and for worse. So, while Lincoln is rolling over, the Republican Party is having a makeover: with the promiscuous flow of firearms, the banning of abortions, increasing open hostility toward so-called “transsexual” people, climate change denial, and more. You have to ask: What does the bearer of these beliefs look like? Maybe, a gun in one hand and a tiki torch in the other, sending an unwanted baby to a state-run facility with the hope for adoption by a decent family not named Manson, demanding that people pull down their pants on demand for inspection, and asking “Who the hell needs Polar Bears anyway?”

That’s a Republican!

The Goosestepping Old Pricks are slowly extinguishing the fires of love, peace, and happiness that have warmed the US since the 60s. The Vietnam war was a breaking point. While Trump sat home and played with his fantasy bone spurs, the rest of us took to the streets, or actually fought in the war.

I can see nothing in the Republican party’s agenda that I take favorably or seriously. The Republican Party was hijacked by Nixon, revolutionized by Reagan, sent to war by Bush1, sent to war by Bush 2, and destroyed by Trump. Listen carefully to the Republican Platform. If it resonates with your perceived interests, don’t consider yourself a good person. You are a bad person—you want to inflict undeserved pain and suffering.

1. Phonetic transcription courtesy of Miriam-Webster’s On-Line Dictionary: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/allusion <3/6/08>.

2. Definition courtesy of Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allusion <3/6/08>.

Buy a print edition of The Daily Trope! The print edition is entitled The Book of Tropes and is available on Amazon for $9.99.

Allusion (ə-ˈlü-zhən):[1] A reference/representation of/to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art . . . “a brief reference, explicit or indirect, to a person, place or event, or to another literary work or passage”. It is left to the reader or hearer to make the connection . . . ; an overt allusion is a misnomer for what is simply a reference.[2]

It was like WWII and Woodstock—like Audie Murphy and Jimi Hendrix rolled into one. It was like Polartec and Marino, a Chevy and a lawnmower, a talking Raven and a Great White Whale, a Schwinn and a skateboard—I could go on and on. There’s a gap. There’s conflict. There’s the impending end. There’s being alone—all alone like “Mr. Lonely.”

But I can’t stop making similes, like a baker making scones, like a poet writing tomes, like Geppetto. I didn’t pay attention to your complaints. I was like a rock, like cement, like a dry sponge. Finally, when you hit me on the butt with a rolled up newspaper, I tried to wean myself of my irritating habit, like taking a shower to wash away the dirt, like withdrawal from heroin, like moving from Georgia to New York. But it didn’t work.

Now, you’re looking for a ticket to ride: like a cowboy waving his hat and heading into the sunset, like Napoleon’s retreat from Russia, like Sherman’s March to the sea. I wish I could stop, like a car with functioning brakes, like a plugged-up drain, like Sisyphus on a vacation break.

Two weeks later . . .

Hi! I went through Glenn Campbell Desimilification Therapy. It is a 2 week program promising to ‘clear’ you of a desire and willingness to incessantly promulgate similes. Accordingly, no more similes for me! Here’s the key: When I feel a simile coming, I yell “Howdy” and, if necessary, I say to myself “I can hear you singing in the wires” and clap my hands three times. It looks a little odd, but it works. Glenn Campbell developed the simile clearing method after Tanya Tucker castigated him for excessive ‘similizing’ in the Glenn Campbell Show’s opening monologue. So, in lieu of the monologue, he started yelling Howdy, singing “Wichita Lineman” and briefly applauding his own performance. Similizing fans all over America discovered that Campbell’s strategy worked for them too, and that a single line from “Whichita Lineman” worked just as well as singing the entire song.

So honey, I’m cured! Without you, I’m like a dog without bone—damn—Howdy, I hear you singing in the wires, clap, clap, clap. There! All straightened out. You know, I need you more than want you, and I want you for all time. I’m not from Wichita and I can’t climb a telephone pole, but you can climb into my lap.

1. Phonetic transcription courtesy of Miriam-Webster’s On-Line Dictionary: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/allusion <3/6/08>.

2. Definition courtesy of Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allusion <3/6/08>.

Buy a print edition of The Daily Trope! The print edition is entitled The Book of Tropes and is available on Amazon for $9.99.