Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)

Wait Phyllis! Let me esplain!
It’s supposed to be bad, it’s call doggerel!
And you like dogs!

This is the bloghop that Lizzi built, hosted (and curated, managed and made welcoming) by Kristi. The principle: a Grat Item* shared is a Grat Item multiplied**.

So the idea is simple: write a post with ten items of gratitude and link it with the others. Read and comment on the various contributions, and various is the operative word. There are as many styles as there are blogs. And, imo, that is part of the charm of the ‘hop. Some have a direct and simple style, Hemingway-esque; others are lyric in their accounts of the parts of their lives that cause them to feel grateful. The key is in this ‘no rules’ approach.

…so, I was, for reasons best left un-examined, thinking about lyric poetry and how, if Homer could account for the adventures of Odysseus then how hard could it be to write a TToT in the style of Homer. Fortunately my mind wandered. When it returned, I was off looking up the definition of ‘doggerel’. Now maybe that’s more to my style.

Why not?

One is one, that much is clear
Una leads the list, cause she is most dear.

That two needs to follow next, surely no one would dispute
Phyllis accepts the position, ’cause Una is so damned cute.

What to do about the third in this list, a blank I draw
Surely something will come to me, for no other reason than there are seven more.

Lets call this number four, arithmetic hardly ever lies
Unless you’re a clark and you’re adding two plus two and no one minds.

Number five is from the internet’s electronic telescope, though I should be shamed to admit
Finding e.e. Cummings and reading beyond the goat-footed balloon man, I say, “Holy …”

Already the sextuplet position we type
This ain’t so hard (or so good), we need to stick to rhetorike

Seven, traditionally in the lists of the weekend, are for shout-outs
Friends both distant and near, we link and shout and link and something rhyming with ‘out’

THIS SPACE IS AVAILABLE are the words that are written
what exactly it means, well, that is less clear.
What we try to imply, and this is quite certain
Writing for this Doctrine, the author is fatally smitten.

That last item messed with the order, my efforts at doggerel
That it gets me to the last item, ain’t nothin but swell.

Secret Rule One point Three, that cornucopia of excuses
Still, one cannot deny, its nature provides multiple uses.
The definition of doggerel seems writ for the Book of Secret Rules
Who am I to argue, it lets us stop here.

* a Grat Item, one of the units, most commonly numbering ten, (due to the eponymous name of this here ‘hop, here) are those people, places and things that elicit, evince and otherwise stimulate a sense of gratitude.

** nothing weird or scary, like the Disney version of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice***

*** total hypo grat**** for that particular movie studio’s idea of what goes into a good children’s movie. Banshees (Darby O’Gill and the Little People), raging forest fires (Bambi), dogs dying (Old Yeller). Thanks Walt, on behalf of my finally-healing-five-year-old sensibilities, thanks a fricken lot.

**** hypo grat  springing from the Book of Secret Rules (aka Secret Book of Rules) hypo grats are those things that happen to everyone, which is not so bad, and happen to us, which is. From flat tires to broken shoelaces, failed exams to girlfriends who decide you remind them of someone they would rather date… the genius of this bloghop and what separates it from the multitude of other gratitude blogs is that hypo grat Items are valid for a person’s contribution of Ten Things of Thankful….provided…. lol (always a catch). Not so much a requirement, more of an acknowledgement of rather developed sensibilities of those who regularly participate, it is possible to present something that is without redeeming value in so a way as to enhance the rest of (one’s ) list. Others have included hypo grat Item in their lists, writing with such grace as to almost make one wish they had their car break down in the middle of a monsoon.   Almost.  lol

music vid

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