Category Archives: congeries

Congeries

Congeries (con’ger-eez): Piling up words of differing meaning but for a similar emotional effect [(akin to climax)].


Wee haa! Wo hoo! Yody Ho! Yippee! As you can tell, I am relatively elated—making some stock elation sounds, and a couple of new inventions. I am easily elated. An airplane landing elates me. Sunshine on my shoulders elates me. A chicken crossing the road would push me over the edge without asking why. I would just watch, and then break out in joyous noises when the chicken reaches the other side.

There are so many goals to be achieved in life that are not extraordinary but yet help make the world go around. Think of the humble nitwit. Consider how they must contemplate the steps in a process and diligently strive to complete it without causing too much damage, but nevertheless be yelled at by an angry boss.

Once one becomes an avowed nitwit, life’s burdens build into mountains of incompetence topped with grief and anger. For example, what about the guy whose job was to scrape gum off the floor at the Notting Hill Tube Station in London. People would walk by and kick them, pretend he was a horse because he worked on his hands and knees, and rode horsey on his back while he scraped. They would also swat his butt with “The Evening Standard.” He stood up, posing like the Statue of Liberty—holding his scraper up like Lady Liberty’s torch. One of his knee pads slipped down his leg and all the commuters stopped and fell silent.

Collectively, they could see what they couldn’t see individually. There was a doctor from Vienna standing by the stairs holding his arms in a circle. He was holding a pastie in one hand and chewing a bite from it very slowly while the wheels spun in his head. They were snow tires and unsuited to London’s summer. He tried revving them up while he contemplated the crowed. He hoped to wear the treads off on the rough edges of his skull’s interior. He dropped his briefcase. It startled him and provided a road to revelation: collectively the commuters came to conensus without saying a word. This must mean when people are packed together they think alike. The have a “collective” consciousness. They are like ants or honeybees, or flying geese or schools of fish.

The gum scraper lowered their scraper and pulled up their knee pad. The commuters became animated again and headed down to the tube platform. The sun came out behind the doctor’s back and he forgot everything, picking up his briefcase and blending in with the commuters. He kicked the gum scraper as he went past and felt very good after doing so.

He was a fake. He wore a second-hand sports coat and pretended to be a doctor. He had a fake office and receptionist. He spoke with a fake Austrian accent, that was actually German and had learned from Colonel Klink on “Hogan’s Heroes.”

Life is complicated.


Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu)

The Daily Trope is available on Amazon in paperback under the title of The Book of Tropes for $9.95. It is also available in Kindle format for $5.99.

Congeries

Congeries (con’ger-eez): Piling up words of differing meaning but for a similar emotional effect [(akin to climax)].


“The best, Yeah, yeah, yeah! All of it! Let’s roll all night long!“ That’s what I saw when I looked in the mirror, I exercise, I plasticize—I had an Airedale Terrier hair transplant, and soon I will have the eyes of a tiger—ha ha, just kidding. Actually I’m going for eagle eyes. Ha ha, just kidding again.

I’m 33, but I don’t look a day over 25. This is what life is about—how you appear; how you look. If you look 25, you are 25. With scalpels, stitches, and silicone your nose loses its hook and bump, and your boobie’s go bouncy jouncy, and your butt becomes Mt. Olympus—home of the gods and goddesses. And with capped teeth, you can smile your way into the guys’ hearts and wallets, blinding them to your nefarious intentions.

So, I found a man who’s 55, loaded with cash and in love with the 25-year-old version of me. We’ve been married 14 years and have a 14-year old daughter who doesn’t look like either of us. She looks a bit like Vince, the friendly guy who works behind the counter at Cliffs. Thank god my husband never goes there—he’d surely suspect something. But my daughter almost looks exactly like me—the actual me, the “pre-renovation” me. She has a hook and bump nose, flat chest, no butt, and snaggly teeth. Just like the actual me, she is ugly as sin.

I never told my husband about my “renovation.” He’s never bothered to check out my age. Then he ran across a picture of me with my mother when I was around 15. I should’ve burned it before he saw it. But I didn’t.. He asked me who the girl was in the picture and remarked on how ugly she was and how much she looked like our daughter. I told him it was me—that he had married a good-looking female Frankenstein. I thought he would go berserk, but he didn’t. He just said “Oh” and sat down behind his computer and started tapping. Later, he said he had booked us three tickets to Geneva, Switzerland where we would see the famous plastic surgeon Dr. Tightskinitski.

When we arrived at the DiMilo Clinic, I was separated from my husband and daughter. I was put in a room that looked like a hospital room. I was frightened and asked to see my husband. They told me I could see him “after the procedure.” I asked “What procedure?” and the two nurses laughed and asked if I wanted a Swiss chocolate bar.

I was groggy when I woke up, and I felt numb all over. I felt like I had been drained and refilled. My husband and daughter came in the room. My husband sad “Now you are who you are.” They laughed and left me alone.

The bandages were removed in a week. I looked in the hand mirror the nurse had given me. Dr. Tightskininski had undone my plastic surgery and orthodontia. I look at least 50. And I am uglier than our daughter. I asked my husband why he did this to me. He said “Because you deserved it you deceptive piece of crap. It would be different if you were fun to be with, treated me well, or cared about something more that my bank account and your disgusting affair with Vince. But even though she’s not my daughter, and even though she’s ugly, I’ll take care of her and love her like she’s my own flesh and blood.”

I was devastated. I was ashamed. I looked like shit.

POSTSCRIPT

After the dust settled she decided to get “restored” again. She went to Mexico, where plastic surgery is cheaper. The surgery was botched. Her nose was accidentally cut off and she bled to death on the operating table. Her former husband travelled to Mexico to retrieve her remains. He took only her nose back to New Jersey where he disposed of it in the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. Her husband threw it in a pond while cursing her. A beaver swimming by grabbed her nose and used it to plug a hole in its dam.


Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu)

The Daily Trope is available on Amazon in paperback under the title of The Book of Tropes for $9.95. It is also available in Kindle format for $5.99.

Congeries

Congeries (con’ger-eez): Piling up words of differing meaning but for a similar emotional effect [(akin to climax)].


Me: Liar! Selfish! Deceptive! Bastard! Prince of prevarication! What else can I say? I know you took my puppy Fontana. Give Fontana back now! If I can’t have Fontana, I don’t want to live. This may look like a bundle of dog biscuits, but it’s a bomb. Hand over the puppy you heinous anus.

Ed: You have truly flipped out. I always wondered when it would happen, but I never imagined your stupid puppy would play a role.

Me: Bullshit. Stay close while I search this dump. What’s this in the cabinet under your sink?

Ed: I don’t know what it is.

Me: There you go Mr. Liar! It’s “Purina Puppy Chow”—Fontana’s favorite. Come on, what’s going on here? My BIC is itching to light the biscuit bomb. Tell me what hell is going on, or you’re coming with me to my next incarnation.

Ed: You’re scaring the hell out of me. Today, I don’t want to be blown up. Maybe tomorrow. Ha ha? We’ve been friends since our sandbox days. You’ve always been a bit unstable, but this takes the cake.

Me (lighter lit): 10, 9, 8 . . .

Ed: Ok ok. Look in my bedroom.

I opened the door. There was Fontana with a bow on her head, beautifully groomed, wearing a new rhinestone studded collar, curled up in a new doggie bed, gleefully wagging her tail. My girlfriend Stella was sitting alongside her. I asked Stella what this was all about as I put the BIC back in my pocket.

Stella: It was Fontana’s first birthday and you were supposed to be at work. I have a key to your house. You weren’t there, so Ed and I picked up Fontana and took her to the groomer for her birthday grooming, and then, we went gift shopping at the adjacent pet store. We wanted to surprise you at home. We stopped here on our way back to your house, you came home early, and you showed up here unexpectedly and “caught” us. I’m not sure what Ed wanted to do at his place, although he squeezed my butt cheek yesterday. I thought he was just kidding around—he went “honk honk” when he squeezed it. Anyway, don’t you just love the way Fontana looks?

Me: I wasn’t listening. I was thinking about the bag of puppy chow under Ed’s sink. I felt my BIC in my pocket and looked at the biscuit bomb in my hand.


Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu). Bracketed text added by Gorgias.

The Daily Trope is available on Amazon in paperback under the title of The Book of Tropes for $9.95. It is also available in Kindle format for $5.99.

Congeries

Congeries (con’ger-eez): Piling up words of differing meaning but for a similar emotional effect [(akin to climax)].


Big. Medium. Small. Short. Tiny. Microscopic. Who cares? How did size get connected to so many things? Larger than life. Big time. Huge. Big as a house. Colossal. Size matters, even if it doesn’t matter. But it does! It does too much. I have a foot-long penis. It is a blessing a curse. When I talk about it, most people find it fascinating. I’m happy about that until I get questions like, “Couldn’t you make a lot of money in an adult circus sideshow?” “Do you have a cam-site?” I prefer questions like “How do you stuff it in your pants?” “Has it made you more confident?” “Does it keep you from playing any sports?”

I remember when I became aware of my bigness. My father joined me up with the YMCA when I was ten. Back then, naked swimming was the norm. I was late and all the boys were lined up naked by the pool when I got there. I saw their tiny dinks and knew I was special. But, I left for fear I’d be teased. I don’t know why my father did that to me, but I thought that he might have a big honker too and wanted to toughen me to teasing. My suspicion was confirmed when my dad died and the mortician felt obligated to tell us what was there. If the penis museum in Iceland was open at the time, his giant wang would be floating in a jar in Reykjavik.

I could write a book about my gargantuan pecker. It has defined me and given me my orientation toward life. Next time you’re eating a wiener on the 4th of July or Labor Day, put some mustard on it and think of me.


Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu). Bracketed text added by Gorgias.

The Daily Trope is available on Amazon in paperback under the title of The Book of Tropes for $9.95. It is also available in Kindle format for $5.99.

Congeries

Congeries (con’ger-eez): Piling up words of differing meaning but for a similar emotional effect [(akin to climax)].


Dizziness. Flatulence. Itching. Constipation. I’m not Santa Claus. I’m not Mick Jagger. I’m not Ward Bond (he’s dead). I am just an old man with the usual maladies. I watch TV day and night and wait for the phone to ring. It’s either going to be the Angel of Death or another damn bill collector. My kids never call me. My car was impounded by the state police because I had been ticketed 12 times for driving 25 “or less” on the freeway.

My Social Security check covers my rent, five cans of tuna, five cans of beans, one gallon of milk, 2 boxes of Fruit Loops, one loaf of day-old bread, and one bottle of Bakon Vodka per month. I dropped out of Meals on Wheels because the volunteer delivery lady wanted to have conversations and asked too many questions.

My wife got our whole nest egg when she divorced me—she found out I had an “extra” child with our cleaning lady and that was enough to win her the whole enchilada, which was substantial.

Pain. Anxiety. Emptiness. Anger. Sorrow. These are my golden years: the sun is setting over the pile of shit my life has become.


Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu). Bracketed text added by Gorgias.

The Daily Trope is available on Amazon in paperback under the title of The Book of Tropes for $9.95. It is also available in Kindle format for $5.99.

Congeries

Congeries (con’ger-eez): Piling up words of differing meaning but for a similar emotional effect [(akin to climax)].

Masked, wary, frightened, and determined, crawling through the grocery store staying below the killer mist drifting up and down the aisles. We need food, but if it’s not on the floor I won’t touch it–advice of FOX TV News. I crawl past a woman standing up examining a head of lettuce. I tell her to get down with me or she will die. She laughs and beans me on the head with the lettuce. Ha! Now it’s on the floor. I grab the lettuce and crawl as fast as I can to checkout. My knees are bleeding. My back hurts. I don’t think I’ll watch Fox TV News any more.

Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu). Bracketed text added by Gorgias.

The Daily Trope is available on Amazon in paperback under the title of The Book of Tropes for $9.95. It is also available in Kindle format for $5.99.

Congeries 

Congeries (con’ger-eez): Piling up words of differing meaning but for a similar emotional effect [(akin to climax)].

Crying, sweating, stumbling, falling, passing out. Today, I tried walking home from work. If a passerby hadn’t known CPR and performed it on me I’d be resting in the morgue right now!

I’m going to check my health insurance policy and my ‘final expense’ policy tonight. If they’re in good order, I’ll try walking to work in the morning.

I think I’ll buy some sweatpants and t-shirts on Amazon and carry my suit and tie in a shopping bag. I think my loafers will work for footwear, but I may have to buy some walking shoes too.

If I die tomorrow, you can have my glass kangaroo collection and giant ice cream bowl–my two most prized possessions: valuable, delicate, different and beautiful. I’ve spent a lot of good quality time arranging and rearranging my kangaroos while eating Chocolate-Covered Cupcake ice cream from my bowl–which, as you know, is made from silver and is encrusted with moonstones.

Wish me luck and pass the kale and beans! Big day tomorrow!

Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu). Bracketed text added by Gorgias.

The Daily Trope is available on Amazon in paperback under the title of The Book of Tropes for $9.95. It is also available in Kindle format for $5.99.

Congeries

Congeries (con’ger-eez): Piling up words of differing meaning but for a similar emotional effect [(akin to climax)].

Ice, slipping. Rain, drenching. Snow, drifting.  Sunshine, blinding. Clouds & snow again–all in one afternoon.  Welcome to Central New York (CNY) where we play weather roulette trying to plan our days and nights around (or in spite of) the weather.

I’m thinking of inventing a combo tool just for CNY: Umbrella, snow brush, ice scraper, an all-in-one weather-thwarting tool.

Sunglasses sold separately.

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Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu). Bracketed text added by Gorgias.

Congeries

Congeries (con’ger-eez): Piling up words of differing meaning but for a similar emotional effect [(akin to climax)].

Snow, buried, blizzard, frozen, freezing, shoveling, plowing, salting, sobbing.

From Machias, to Merrimac they’re sobbing for the collapsing roofs.

They’s sobbing for the burning homes.

They’re sobbing for the bursting pipes.

And worst of all, because of you, Juno, they’re sobbing at the wailing sirens–at the flashing lights of ambulances saving the injured and delivering the dead.

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Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu). Bracketed text added by Gorgias.

 

Congeries

Congeries (con’ger-eez): Piling up words of differing meaning but for a similar emotional effect [(akin to climax)].

Homes and highways damaged and destroyed. Friends and loved ones missing and dead.

Yesterday we were in schock. Today, we mourn. Tomorrow, we will begin to rebuild.

In the weeks, months, and years to come we will work, rejoice, remember, struggle, and seek solace in the spirit of hope that joins us and speeds us ahead.

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Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu). Bracketed text added by Gorgias.

Congeries

Congeries (con’-ger-eez): Piling up words of differing meaning but for a similar emotional effect [(akin to climax)].

The new Appple iGod is indestructible, immutable, and runs on pure sweet love beamed from above by iDove. Its media player will supposedly “restoreth your soul” with endlessly looping ambient angelic music available on iHymn for all eternity for only 99¢! Bottom line: like all things Appple, it’s beyond biblical, man! It’s like, hyperousion!

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Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu). Bracketed text added by Gorgias.

Congeries

Congeries (con’-ger-eez): Piling up words of differing meaning but for a similar emotional effect [(akin to climax)].

Your proposal is unrealistic, dangerous, insulting, immoral, and muddled.  In short, it’s ready for the shredder.

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Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu). Bracketed text added by Gorgias.

Congeries

Congeries (con’ger-eez): Piling up words of differing meaning but for a similar emotional effect [(akin to climax)].

You are my generous, intelligent, kind, creative, loving, self-confident buddy! My child! My daughter! My rainbow!

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Definition courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu). Bracketed text added by Gorgias.