Poaching Persimmons

It’s that time again people, Scoundrel time, wicked fruit stealing time, time to make a new year’s whatchamacallit — Threat?

I the Scoundrel promise to steal some fruit from your icebox and leave you a stupid note about how great it was, with some fruit juice stains on the side of the note because I wrote it WHILE I WAS STILL EATING YOUR FRUIT!!!!

But first, let’s look at the haul I made over Christmas!

Now you’re wondering is CrookedTimber one of those punkass blogs whose links don’t work after a few years, and the answer is no — they cool.

The Poem that was stolen (with all apologies, the Scoundrel)

We have changed the wording in the workflow drop-down box at the bottom of the Research Output entry screen Validation is carried out by Editors of Content They check the metadata fields in the Pure record Old, New Entry in progress Entry in progress Entry completed by User Validate The workflow statuses are visible The new wording has been chosen The actions behind the scenes are unchanged.

And where was this masterpiece?

Aww, somebody had a creative writing class and managed to get a B because they parodied one of the most parodied poems in history. How cool, but then they graduated and went on to get saddled with crippling student debt and their old high school said screw that guy or gal and threw away their work. Thanks Skyview.

Archive.org? YES — yayyyy

And what do you know this is a momentous occasion in the history of the scoundrel. This poem is not a parody of This is just to Say, it is instead a parody of

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that, the passing there Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.

by Robert Frost

And what was the parody?

THE METRO NOT TAKEN

Two roads converged at the yellow sign And sorry I do not the Metro know And be a punctual traveler, there I stood And looked down the street as far as I could To see the number 26 disappear in the undergrowth.

So I waited for the other just as fair And having perhaps the better route Since it went to 84th And I was wanted there at 7:00.

I am telling this with a sigh, Miles and miles of walking since, I waited for the one that didn’t come by And that made a lot of difference

by Al Bandstra

This was all described in the original history of the scoundrel

I started grabbing parodies of authors that were not Williams, like Frost with his The Road Not Taken, even though I quite like that poem.

And this was the first time I did that. Pretty Amazing stuff!

And another one — still working

And again — another from the same AllPoetry account

Quoting here:

The Road To Take (Robert Frost Parody)

If you could now gaze where once you stood, You’d see how two roads succumbed to growth, Too many choices can not be good And often as not misunderstood! God bless the child who follows your ghost, They have to pick one ~ do it with care; Some will be led by fortune and fame Others may choose to remain unaware While their future world shows disrepair And sadly they’re all — heir to that claim! Though some might choose to stall and delay, Or ignore those days before the Attack, They know there’s a price and hell to pay And the road they choose must pave that way, By voting for peace ~ not paying back! “I should be telling this with a sigh, Somewhere ages and ages hence,” Lessons learned by an eye for an eye Should not be the way they choose to die, And that will make all the difference … © 2011 Joy A. Burki-Watson

So there were some parodies found on Schoolrack — are they still there?

And is it archived?

Basically my experience is that if it is an institute of higher education then you might as well give up, those people are just incapable of maintaining any sort of meaningful data past 4 years. It’s ridiculous really.

Playlist

I think it was Agent 19 in one of his long rambling articles about how music makes him feel that said — If you got play, you don’t got to pay.

In light of which the Hitmagist has made the following playlist which the Scoundrel likes to listen to when he is scoundreling about, being scoundrelly as all get out.

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