Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
We have more family visiting, and I have started teaching a new writing class at UC Davis., so I don’t have time to write you an expository or discursive newsletter, as I typically do. Instead, enjoy this poem, full of oblique indications of topics that I have been considering during my walk back and forth to campus.
Suggestive Fragments
1.
A plaintive voice fades —
urgent, falling,
long since silenced, —
still echoing in basements.
2.
Never interested in productivity,
a quiet notebook
dreams alongside machines.
3.
A mountain speaks in Cyrillic
After a long silence.
4.
Two portals opened
in a year the cosmos snapped—
now we don’t cough
to attract attention.
5.
A language roams deserts,
not shopping malls.
In one word, it reigns.
In another, it waits.
It does not wait for you.
6.
Pinned at the top:
not a butterfly,
but a fragment of voice
from the one who lit the screen.
7.
A ship sails,
its sails stitched from harmony,
its name lost
in a curling wave of harmony.
8.
The son raised fists.
The father taught silence.
Together, they broke something
nobody could hold.
9.
Five bones
beneath your breath.
They bend,
but have no time to beg.
10.
She studied flight
in kernels and stems—
while her shadow
served bills and boundaries.
11.
Three dots
walk into a word,
seeking to be decoded.
They leave no footprints.
They are not eyes.
12.
It comes again,
this twisted Friday—
older,
the scandals forgotten
like unopened fortune cookies
13.
He landed
in polyester dreams—
in a garage
with a family named for fabric.
14.
She moved higher
than most choirs,
a crown resting
not on gold
but spirit.
15.
Asked of tragedy,
he replied in time.
His name rearranges
the play’s demand.
There’s a dog in this play.
16.
A man in robes,
numbered in popes,
reset the clock
with the tilt of a ringed hand.
17.
A dagger’s calendar,
red with reforms,
carries no apologies.
18.
They searched the temple,
that crystal whisper—
but what they found
was time itself breaking.
19.
Many months marched straight.
One was crooked,
holding days like teeth.
20.
Born of coil and hush,
this year returns
like a red menu,
every dozen steps.
21.
He wrote of kings
who barked philosophy,
of men in bathrobes
on fire with thought.
22.
The jungle returned—
not once,
but again,
birds in disguise.
23.
The dried chameleon
wore cowboy dust
and drank mirages.
24.
A nation of edges,
stitched in shoreline.
Within it,
snowmelt forgets its name.
25.
Power spoke
through three voices
from one compass point,
cold as prison bars.
26.
Salt stings.
But in sweetness,
the air lingers longer.
27.
With an unrushed
Midwestern hush,
the told stories sufficed
when the answers ran out.
28.
Crowns may change,
but favor genuflects
toward gentleness.
29.
He bloomed
beneath backboards,
floated,
spun petals into records.
30.
The blind, the fool,
And the faithful are gone.
Note what remains.
31.
Blake never saw
This many square teaspoons
Of sand.
Happy August to you! Today is a scorcher! I’m glad we have misters on the patio. I hope you will join us for a grand competition featuring 31 questions on a variety of topics you should know something about.
Find your hints, above.
For more Pub Quiz fun, please subscribe via Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/c/yourquizmaster.
Thanks to all the new players joining us at the live quizzes and to all the patrons who have been enjoying fresh Pub Quiz content. We have over 70 Patreon members now, including the new paid subscribers Esther, James, Damian, Jim, and Meebles! Thanks also to new subscribers Bill and Diane, Tamara, Megan, Michael, Janet, Jasmine, Joey, Carly, The X-Ennial Falcons, and The Nevergiveruppers! Every week I check the Patreon to see if there is someone new to thank. Maybe next week it will be you! I also thank The Original Vincibles, Summer Brains, Still Here for the Shakesbeer, The Outside Agitators, John Poirier’s team Quizimodo, Gena Harper, the conversationally entertaining dinner companions and bakers of marvelous and healthy treats, The Mavens, whose players or substitutes keep attending, despite their ambitious travel schedules and the cost of avocado. Thanks in particular to Ellen and to my paid subscribers on Substack. Thanks to everyone who supports the Pub Quiz on Patreon. I would love to add your name or that of your team to the list of pub quiz boosters. Also, I sometimes remember to add an extra hint on Patreon. I appreciate your backing this pub quiz project of mine!
I also want to recognize those who visit my Substack the most often, including Luna, Jean, Ron, Myrna, and Maria, to whom I send sustained compassion. I have almost 300 Substack subscribers!
Best,
Dr. Andy
P.S. Here are three questions from last week:
- Hotness. An all-time European high temperature record was set this past Friday in Silopi, Turkey. Was the Celsius temperature closest to 30, 40, or 50 degrees?
- Books and Authors. Taking place in Florida, which 1937 novel with a female protagonist tells us that “Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board”?
- Film: One-Star Reviews of Great Movies. What film received this one-star review: “Hot dog fingers? This is what won Best Picture??”
P.P.S. August 7 is Poetry Night. We have Robin and Keith Ekiss! I earn a mention in Robin’s bio. I hope you can join us at 7 PM in the John Natsoulas Gallery in Davis.