dennis scharnberg

Category: Uncategorized

literally literal literalness

Something shone and glittered from a high limb. And up the wobbly old ladder went Dad Rawlings, until before him lay a small gold coin resting on the ragged bark. And two others alongside it, of silver. “This shouldn’t be,” he said, quite aloud.

Miles Bantry, ed., Mr. Roode’s Rustic Tales.

fine and dandy

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” whispered Mr. Tomlin. To himself.

Dickinson Holmes, The Book of Shoes.

old bill jones

“Now that is someone who really cared.”

“Who? Who cared, dear? Who really cared?”

“Dr. Sigmund Freud. That’s who.”

Adrian Caliban, The Magnificent Egglestons.

happy resentment parade

World: a pretext for having mass media.

Nathaniel Bumppo, The Final Word.

assessing body language

In a degenerate society, blackmail encounters a problem. Simply stated, the society reaches a point in degradation where nothing—no particular act—is revolting enough to offer blackmail value.

Desmond Urquhart, The Unsocial Sciences.

inducing more resentment

“But how did Palmer come to be the one who knows? How did that happen? Was he born that way? Born already knowing?”

Dickinson Holmes, The Book of Shoes.

come again soon

I hunted for edges

The pond gathered rain

Worlds are strange when wet

Ann Sensabaugh, The Faulty Haiku.

gemma lux speculum

“You’re a guy stuff happens to, Tommy. You have that knack. Or perhaps it has you?”

Sylvester Wickham, He Wishes To See You.

admirable trial attorneys

“And remember, young lady, that anything good in this life is strictly illusion. Only the bad things are real.”

Angela Unseld, ed., Letters from Uncle Hal.

defying economists’ expectations

There should be no limit placed on the contempt that one has for actors.

Logan Nygaard, A Treatise on Amusement.