Folly of the Faithful Canine

A T. rex chased a stegosaur until the latter said,
“Excuse me: By the time that you exist, I should be dead.
My era’s late Jurassic, whereas yours is late Cretaceous.
By eighty million years, I must predate you; that’s veracious.”

Now, T. rex brains are larger than traditionally thought,
But this one got confused and thus responded, “I think not.
You herbivores do not engage in larger-game predation.
You might just be voracious, but you’d better know your station.”

The stegosaurus rolled her eyes and patiently replied,
“Well, let me put it this way: Our temporal gap is wide.
Your period is closer to the Information Age
Of humans than to mine, so would you kindly disengage?”

A moment passed, and then the T. rex said, “I see your point.
Apologies; I don’t know how I got so out of joint.”
With that, the hunter turned around and ran the other way
To chase and munch on humans from the modern present day.

I had never heard of Tim Dorsey until I saw several of his books in a comic book store. The clerk clarified that they were his own, not for sale. Then he lent me one without me asking. I gratefully made a point to finish within the month.

( Cut for length )

My next read is Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed. Finally getting back into outright fantasy. And author diversity.

The Style Invitational didn't publish my previous poetic effort, but I'm taking a chance on the new contest: a limerick featuring a word that starts with "hi."

A gentleman wearing Versace
Ate with gusto and got it all splotchy.
In a hurry, he tried
Using water and dried
It most foolishly—with a hibachi.

The latest Style Invitational contest calls for short poems that intentionally misuse a word in a funny way. I considered using "bespoke" with regard to bicycle wheels, but that was hard to work out. Here's what I submitted instead:

I used to opt for tuna fish
When I’d prepare a certain dish,
But now it’s haddock that gets fried.
My recipe’s been codified.

Out on the Balkan Peninsula,
One Specialist Schwarz was assigned
To create propaganda-type posters,
Which bored him right out of his mind.

When the Yugoslav Wars had concluded,
He published online a whole list
Of more than 200 examples
Of actions he’d have to desist.

In fairness, he hadn’t done all of them.
A bunch he’d just heard of or seen.
Superiors sometimes forewarned him
In case he was feeling so mean.

I doubt any man in the Army
Could do all without getting dismissed.
While the page where he posted has folded,
Several fans have preserved Skippy’s List.

Yup, I entered the very next Style Invitational contest. Unlike the faux ScrabbleGrams, "breeding" Triple Crown nominees is something I've done before. This time I ran out of steam at 10 entries:

Bloodline x Echo Zulu = DeltaNovemberAlpha
Cant Be Doin That x Seventh Letter = G-Rated
Cyberknife x Verbal = Cutting Remark
Doppelganger x Top Secret = Clone of Silence
Echo Zulu x Simplification = EZ
El Paso x Mugged = Marty Robbin’
Enough Already x Rockefeller = Full Nelson
Gunfighter x Top Secret = Quiet Earp
Hopper x Mr White = Reservoir Frogs
Particular x Peaceful Waters = Specific Ocean

Since I was packing light, my dad lent me his Kindle, loaded with three library books of my choice. Collectively, they turned out to be exactly the right length for my trip. I wanted to mix them up with mysteries, but I didn't get recommendations from the mystery fans in my family in good time. So despite being wary of more fantasies after last time, I picked three fairly promising ones, two of which have minor mystery elements.

( The Last Dragonslayer )

( Exile's Honor )

( Witches Abroad )

Now I'm finally reading a non-fantasy again: This Is How You Make a Movie by Tim Grierson. It was published just last year, so it's very up-to-date, unlike some nonfiction I've reviewed.