The Fool

TOM AND JERRY: comedy cartoon series centering on the rivalry between main characters Tom Cat and Jerry Mouse. Originally ran 1940-1958, followed by myriad spin-offs.

Introduction

It's All Fool's Day, and we have to explore the nature of  open-hearted exploration, of foolishness, of pranks and punks!  Plus, I am fascinated by the fools in Shakespeare's plays, particularly "The Fool" (with no other name) in KING LEAR.  The dichotomy of the fool being the smartest person in the play, who gets to speak the truth, no holds barred, and then who wanders off, disappears, in Act 3.  Seems a coveted position to have in a society. No?  Let's see what your writing thinks about the fool.    

5 Min. Warmup Write

Tell about a joke, a prank, a way you tricked somebody, or a way you were tricked, April Fool or otherwise.

Mentor Poem

Fool Invents the Piano, 1250 A.D.
WILLIAM TROWBRIDGE             
 
Like the monkey that accidentally typed Hamlet,
Fool, tinkering in his workshop, constructed
an exact likeness of a Steinway concert grand,
 
which he called the “Making-Sounds-with-Little-
Hammers-on-Wires Machine.” It looked impressive,
but he was puzzled about what to do with it.
 
It was too big and complicated to be a doorstop
and too heavy and lopsided to be a wheelbarrow,
especially with those little brass wheels, so he
 
tried using it to scare rats out of the hayloft.
But the rats weren’t impressed, and he sprained
his back winching it up. Fool pushed on
 
the levers to make high sounds and low ones,
wondering why he’d made some levers black.
Neighbors, hearing eerie noises from his house,
 
suspected Fool of conjuring evil spirits
to cast spells on them. Several broke out
in goat-shaped rashes, others began speaking
 
gibberish. Soon, Fool found himself trussed atop
his machine, which was then dumped into a lake,
as Bartok’s Piano Concerto No. 1 dawned on him.

​Source: Rattle
Originally published in Rattle #67, Spring 2020

Writing Prompts #1

​PART 1: Everybody post the name of an object, machine, thing—mechanical or organic—in the chat section.  Post a couple of these objects.
PART 2: Select an object from the list and reconsider it as only a thing.  Think of it without all the background knowledge about it.  Next, write a descriptive phrase that will identify it, like the Fool does in the poem when he says “Making-Sounds-with-Little-Hammers-on-Wires Machine.”   Try this inventive writing a couple of times.
PART 3:  Expand on one, and turn it into a poem

About 0: THE FOOL Tarot Card

Writing Prompts #2

• Tell me about a new adventure you’ve been wanting to take or try.  What’s keeping you from doing it?
• What are you unaware of?  (I realize that requires being somewhat aware.)
• What are your forces of loyalty and protection?
• What are the challenges yet to come?
• What do you trust will be there when you take that step?

For Discussion

Fitz · I'm a Fool to Love You by Cornelius Eady

I'm a Fool to Love You
CORNELIUS EADY
​
Some folks will tell you the blues is a woman,
Some type of supernatural creature.
My mother would tell you, if she could,
About her life with my father,
A strange and sometimes cruel gentleman.
She would tell you about the choices
A young black woman faces.
Is falling in with some man
A deal with the devil In blue terms, the tongue we use
When we don't want nuance
To get in the way,
When we need to talk straight.
My mother chooses my father
After choosing a man
Who was, as we sing it,
Of no account.
This man made my father look good,
That's how bad it was.
He made my father seem like an island
In the middle of a stormy sea,
He made my father look like a rock.
And is the blues the moment you realize
You exist in a stacked deck,
You look in a mirror at your young face,
The face my sister carries,
And you know it's the only leverage
You've got.
Does this create a hurt that whispers
How you going to do?
Is the blues the moment
You shrug your shoulders
And agree, a girl without money
Is nothing, dust
To be pushed around by any old breeze.
Compared to this,
My father seems, briefly,
To be a fire escape.
This is the way the blues works
Its sorry wonders,
Makes trouble look like
A feather bed,
Makes the wrong man's kisses
A healing.

Source: poets.org
Originally published in Autobiography of a Jukebox by Cornelius Eady