METACROSTIC #6: Quote
#6: Backup Clues
HOME PAGEMETACROSTIC #6: Quote
#6: Backup Clues HOME PAGE
A. _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ 216 206 60 131 146 151 127 266 72
No one said it would be fair,
That's more than we can ask.
The biggest bastards everywhere
Are never called to task.
B. _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ 123 103 203 92 228 221 106 129 33 238
The sisty uglers weren't the worst;
If the story I recall.
The wicked one had them well-versed
To keep our heroine from the ball.
C. _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ 191 52 244 272 257
I can't keep you in check
You seem to know just where you're going;
And what's that on your neck
It looks like something awful's growing.
D. _____ _____ _____ _____ 135 209 31 150
Goodness knows I cannot claim
To be a poet laureate.
And with these rhymes I cannot aim
To join the professoriate.
E. _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ 242 105 187 84 137 51
Our racial and cultural mixture
Bespeaks a respectable heritage.
But background is also the fixture
That limits careers and marriages.
F. _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ 69 200 240 78 219 2 98 85 138
There's one of these near Indian Lake
Two more in Fergus and Mifflin
In order to quadrangulate
Use these three and one more in Fulton.
G. _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ 112 68 155 265 89 45
The proper responses to gaffs.
Rather than be upset by 'em,
Is to divide your mistakes by halves
And be amused instead of beset by 'em.
H. _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ 275 168 260 50 76 9 237 254 215 115 181 17
When headlong you are rushing
Your problem is not neuro-muscular.
The probable cause of your blushing;
Is that which is red and corpuscular.
I. _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ 90 185 42 66 163 5
As comic creatures go
This clan is certainly dark and ghastly.
But at the movie show
They're overestimated vastly.
J. _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ 230 104 21 211 202 88 32 12 167 99
Say you learn a trait,
And though you're only in your teens,
You simply cannot wait
To encode it in your genes.
K. _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ 177 102 162 120 114
In the metamorphic world
It's considered immature
To try to crawl while you're still furled
And feeling more or less secure.
L. _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ 53 157 25 147 93 220 142 87 43 26
There was once an Italian physician
Who noticed a tube near his palate
He was luckily in a position
To name it and thicken his wallet.
M. _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ 253 164 23 208 118 94 214 232 170 79 11 247 158
The way things used to be
Some people would suffer in anguish.
Nothing has changed, you see
But it's couched in a different language.
N. _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ 67 178 81 172 184
When you're a Persian or Indian king;
On the right sits your chief minister.
Those nights when you're having a fling
Your concubine sits to your sinister.
O. _____ _____ _____ _____ 159 116 57 195
All the boaters and fishers know
There's goodies in the tidepool.
But merry baker's on the go
May figure their dough with a slide rule.
P. _____ _____ _____ _____ 207 174 160 197
You think this fight is something
But it's just a little spat.
It would really be a dumb thing
To get angry over that.
Q. _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ 15 36 273 175 224 261 199 223 189 24 166 249
I can feel you getting sleepy
I think we should go back
Things have started getting creepy
This is where you went off track.
R. _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ 77 59 35 156 70 270 113
When we all wore bobby sox
And heard the Righteous Brothers sing
We would walk out to the rocks
And watch the ocean do its thing.
S. _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ 3 148 217 64 126 196 243 194 152
If you traded in that lump you're chewin'
This is what you'd get.
His Hesperus lies in wrack and ruin.
Have you guessed it yet?
T. _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ 161 229 1 186 140
They say the older that we are
The more often that we check there.
And some say smoking that cigar
Is the easiest way to get there.
U. _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ 235 188 97 82 37 55 122 259 30 198 193 267 180
We've been through this before.
I thought I made myself clear.
Who's been minding the store
While I wasn't here.
V. _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ 269 153 61 48 124 264 107 73 205 212
He could have been credited
With several Nobels
For allowing unedited
Views of our blood cells.
W. _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ 34 110 201 251 149 83 4
They're a genus of water flea;
But that's not what they are known for.
A mythical laurel tree
It's her flowers that she's grown for.
X. _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ 27 246 108 44 7 121 234 176 262 96
I must admit I'm cheating;
I've put on a little bit.
In fact I'm so into eating
My clothes need a retrofit.
Y. _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ 71 10 268 74 171
Those clouds seem insubstantial;
Are they cotton balls and stuff?
All the facts are circumstantial
But that's evidence enough.
Z. _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ 169 183 226 29 145 86 213 192
I saw him play the colosseum
With his usual verve and vigor.
His namesake is a mausoleum
Where folks reside with much more rigor.
AA. _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ 130 255 19 111 38 54 241
We're having ourselves a party
With fezzes and caps and bonnets.
If you think you're such a smarty
You should try writing these sonnets.
BB. _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ 231 117 182 8 91 39 258 239 132
An outer layer in the aid of
Unicellular little chaps.
And it's the stuff that dreams are made of;
Or teleported beings, perhaps.
CC. _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ 173 109 245 56 63 80 47
So loudly did this guy proclaim
The coming of the Trojan war.
That all such fellows bear his name
Who demand that others yield the floor.
DD. _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ 144 6 274 133 14 101
Some folks love their orange pulp
And take pride in their tropical origin;
I eat them up in just one gulp
And seek other fridges to forage in.
EE. _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ 20 119 165 95 225 154 40 236 190 276 250
I couldn't care less; it matters not
One way or the other.
And if you put me on the spot
It isn't worth the bother.
FF. _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ 248 143 222 271 58 13 136 210
The second time he calls her
He surely has her number.
His compliment enthralls her
While his goal is just to plumb her.
GG. _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ 263 139 256 46 233 252 41 16 218 227 100
Her humiliation was sublime
It was shameful, a total disgrace.
Perhaps she can alter course in time
To perhaps, at least, save face.
HH. _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ 128 65 49 28 62 18
I'll be covering my hatch
With reeds and flags and grass
And from the rest I'll make a patch
For covering my ass.
II. _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ 204 75 179 134 141 22 125
Throughout your youth your folks would say
Those cigarettes will shorten you.
But you've ignored them to this day
And look where it has gotten you.
© 1996 Arthur Bloch