April 07, 2008
Monday Poem
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The Four Horse's Asses of the Necropolis
Jim Culleny
Why would the Four Horse's Asses 
of the Necropolis
still strew fetid flowers
upon the path
of the Four Horsemen
of the Apocalypse,
as an ill-wind
blew the scent of aftermath
into the faces of a people
barely mewing?
Would even horse's asses
herd us down the trail
of our undoing?
Oh, yeah. They'll happily
have done their will
leaving us nil
while they are safely
toodle-ooing...
RE: An American "Nakbah"
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Posted by Jim Culleny at 12:11 AM | Permalink
Comments
And who was it put these horse asses in power?
And lapped up their lies
Every day, every hour
The people, barely mewing
Are authors of their own undoing
Posted by: Jared | Apr 7, 2008 12:51:10 PM
Si. Con mucho gusto, tambien ...el critinos.
Posted by: J | Apr 7, 2008 1:12:55 PM
thanks god there is a congress to keep them in line. ps: before there was a Rice horsie, there was a Powell nag.
Posted by: fred lapides | Apr 7, 2008 4:11:42 PM
Shouldn't that be "Horses' Asses"? Four horses have four asses. The four asses belong to the four horses. They are the horses' asses.
Posted by: Fussy | Apr 7, 2008 4:27:34 PM
Just making sure you're paying attention. Well done!
And who was it put these horses' asses in power?
And lapped up their lies
Every day, every hour
The people, barely mewing
Are authors of their own undoing
Posted by: Jared | Apr 7, 2008 4:44:12 PM
I remember reading this poem in its original comment, and wondering if it would be highlighted on the front page. I'm glad to see that it has been. Excellent choice, Jim. Excellent poem, J.
Posted by: ghostman | Apr 7, 2008 7:45:23 PM
Fussy --
I'm not so sure.
Each indivudual shown here is clearly a horse's ass (each is one horse's ass). Each is the ass of one horse. So, in the case of these four at least, wouldn't that be four (4) horse's asses all tolled?
Anyway. I'm going with that. If you'd like to bring higher authority into the argument, such as my old English Teacher, Mr. Egge, I'm ready to reconsider.
Posted by: J | Apr 7, 2008 8:42:02 PM
J,
I wouldn't dare dispute Mr. Egge if he agrees with you. You are right that each horse has one ass. You could refer to one horse's ass. But in total they are four horses, not four horse.
Posted by: Fussy | Apr 7, 2008 9:34:20 PM
If it was a race, I would bet on Kinda Sleazy to win, and Oil Slick Dick to place.
How about you?
Posted by: Dave Ranning | Apr 8, 2008 1:28:11 AM
I'm with Jim, Fussy. Four horse's asses is better than four horses' assses. Or at least just as acceptible. My teachers are Strunk and White.
Posted by: Abbas Raza | Apr 8, 2008 4:49:19 AM
Thank you Mr. Raza ...you and Mr. Egge.
J
Posted by: J | Apr 8, 2008 7:34:06 AM
How about Fowler's? From the 1996 edition:
"Some golden rules:
1 An apostrophe is required before a possessive s in the singular (the boy's hat, the water's edge) and after a possessive s in the plural (the boys' gymnasium, the ladies' maids, in four days' time). Except that in the small group of words that do not end in -s in the plural, the plural possessive is indicated by 's (children's shoes, men's boots, women's handbags, the oxen's hoofs)." (p. 61)
By my reading, this suggests four horses' asses.
Posted by: Fussy | Apr 8, 2008 12:43:50 PM
The honorific was made official some time ago for at least one of the four.
Jared: Thanks for the kind words in the post about laughter :-)
Posted by: Ruchira | Apr 8, 2008 1:20:02 PM
Ok, ok, in the spirit of compromise, how about: horse's' asses?
We can let Strunk and White duke it out with Fowler and focus on sending the present leadership off to the glue factory.
Posted by: J | Apr 8, 2008 1:40:09 PM
I gladly second the glue factory motion. My fussiness has to do with the possessive apostrophe, not with the idea that these four are, in fact, horses' asses.
Posted by: Fussy | Apr 8, 2008 1:43:09 PM
It's ok to be fussy about possessive apostrophes. In a system such as ours it's very important to know exactly who owns what.
Posted by: J | Apr 8, 2008 1:49:18 PM
No, it's not that. It's that apostrophes are so commonly misused, whether for possessives, plurals, or contractions. It's a pet peeve.
Posted by: Fussy | Apr 8, 2008 3:49:39 PM
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