Monday, May 30, 2022

Alan Moore's Jerusalem: Book 3: Vernall's Inquest: Round the Bend: Line 52

Line 52: "Her inphant pass'd, her semi-terra'd feuture and here her-and-know, her iffrey liffing mement altergather, all her hypertenses prescent and currect."

Non-Lucy-Lips Version: "Her infant past, her cemeteried future and her here-and-now, her every living moment altogether, all her tenses present and correct."

"inphant pass'd"
"Her infant past" remains about her (or deep inside her at the middle of the stack) like a "passing phantom."

"her semi-terra'd feuture"
I suppose the "features" of a ghost or "phantom" could be described as "semi-terra'd" or "unearthly," not of this realm, incorporeal.

"here"
Moore keeps replacing "her" with "here" and I don't really find it meaningful. I suppose she is in the present so I guess that helps?

"her-and-know"
Alan Moore has some really ingenious Lucy Lips moments and then he has things like this that just seem like he's shifting one word to the closest possible next word without really revealing Lucia's subconscious. I suppose this statement just says, "Lucia knows herself and reveal herself through the things she's saying here-and-now." And also, I know I keep writing that all of this garbled narration is "Lucia speaking" when it obviously is just Lucia's day being narrated by an omniscient narrator. But that omniscient narrator may as well be Lucia's perception of reality. So just go with it.

"her iffrey liffing"
More stuff about how Lucia is the River Liffey. It's repeated so much it must be really important! Too bad I have no context for it!

"mement"
Every "moment" is a "meme." A "meme" is a unit of cultural information spread by imitation. Richard Dawkins coined the word in 1976 in his book The Selfish Gene. Moore uses it here to represent how Lucia lives and relives all of her living moments over and over again.

"altergather"
"Altogether" in that Lucia's "alternate selves" "gather" together in every living moment. She is each stacked doll individually and also "altogether" at all "living" "moments" of her "here-and-now".

"hypertenses"
All of Lucia's "tenses" or moments of her life (past, present, future) compose who she is. Perhaps "hyper" because she is so full of energy for an 80 year old because she is also a toddler and a teenager and a horny middle-aged woman too. Perhaps in the sense of "hyperspace" as well in that Lucia exists "over" or behind the surface of reality.

"prescent"
"Present" and "prescient." "Prescient" is to show knowledge of an event before it takes place. This explains how her "future" is also incorporated into her being (which is also just how time and reality work in Jerusalem (and probably reality)).

"currect."
"Correct" and "current." As in all of Lucia's "moments" are "currently" within her and that's how it should be ("correct").

Sunday, May 29, 2022

Alan Moore's Jerusalem: Book 3: Vernall's Inquest: Round the Bend: Line 51

Line 51: "F'all here olter passonalities are her aswill, the topsy-turpsichorean tosst of Gapery, the fancianable lispian when cunninglingloss was belegged to be saphosticated, or the dis-appointed dawncer tearnin' down a prosterous careern at the prestageous Lastbet Druncan Shulethe becurse herr meister 'Merzed her in his kamflicated airy unphilosophies and fascile rachel pressurdice."

Non-Lucy-Lips Version: "For all her other personalities are her as well, the tipsy terpsichorean toast of Gay Paris, the fashionable lesbian when cunnilingus was believed to be sophisticated, or the disappointed dancer turning down a prosperous career at the prestigious Elizabeth Duncan School because her master immersed her in his complicated Aryan philosophies and facile racial prejudice."
Thanks to this site for helping me translate the "Lastbet Druncan" bit. The "Shulethe" I figured was school which helped get to the rest. This is getting so much harder!

"F'all"
I believe we've worked through spring and summer so far. Now we're on to fall. Also this sentence describes Lucia's "fall" from dancing (akin to "Lucifer" the "dawncer/dawn star/morning star"?).

"olter"
"Other" and "older," as in past personalities. They are chronologically older but they were Lucia when she was younger.

"passonalities"
These "personalities" were full of her youthful "passion." Dance was Lucia's passion in her youth and these personalities describe those times. "Pass on" as well as in these personalities were left behind by Lucia.

"aswill"
Probably the British definition of "swill" as in "to wash or rinse out by pouring large amounts of water over it" perhaps to indicate Lucia cleaning out an old personality to begin fresh and clean.

"topsy-turpsichorean"
"Topsy-turvy" from "tipsy terpsichorean," or drunk dancer, to indicate confusion and, possibly, the hedonism of the moment. Lucia was enjoying success as a dancer and living a wild life in Paris.

"tosst"
Lucia was a celebrated dancer in Paris, the "toast" of the town. But "tossed" continues the idea of the upside-down confusion of "topsy-turvy." Also, she was essentially "tossed" from the lifestyle as she became disillusioned with her abilities at her "advancing" age ("advancing" in quotes because she was still very young but behind many of the women who trained at dance from very early ages).

"Gapery"
"Gay Paris" with the suggestion of being "gaped at." Lucia's dancing left people awed and amazed, mouths "agape," at her abilities.

"fancianable"
"Fashionable" combined with "fancy." Sometimes Alan Moore's work is just making a word do a little more obvious work. To be fashionable is to be fancy. Redundancy is the point in a lot of these, to simply emphasize what is being said as strongly as possible.

"lispian"
A strong lisp is caused by the tongue doing more work than it's supposed to which is also something a lesbian's tongue does when engaged in "cunnilingus." "Lisping" is a speech impediment much like the way Lucia speaks (or perceives things?). Lucia declared she was a lesbian some time after Samuel Beckett told her he was more into her father than into her.

"cunninglingloss"
Lucia's way of speaking (which the Dead-Dead Gang call "Lucy Lips" (which itself is a "Lucy Lips" interpretation of "loose lips" which are also a suggestion of a sexually stimulated vagina)) could be considered a "loss" of communication in that it's hard to understand and thus not all of her intended meaning will reach the listener. But it's a "cunning" "loss" of "lingua/language" in that it actually winds up saying far more than it would without the speech impediment.

"belegged"
"Believed" but spelled to make you think of two women scissoring. Or at least that's what it made me think about. Although I'm probably thinking about that 60% of the time anyway so don't be so proud of yourself, Moore.



Here is a picture of Lucia Joyce's legs. She is dressed as a silver fish here. This could be where Moore got the idea to associate Lucia Joyce with a fish in many of the passages.



"saphosticated"
Sappho was a Greek poet from the island of Lesbos known for her love poetry and her gay. Imagine being a poet and millennia later, you're still basically known because you loved having sex with women. So much so that your home island was taken as the name for women who love other women. This is what people are fighting against when people of a minority group wind up simply being a representative of that minority group. What kind of shitty responsibility is that?! White males never represent all other white males nor are they expected to. But here we have a woman who just wanted to fuck other women and write some lovely poetry. Do we now say, "Oh, you're Sapphic!" when we learn somebody loves to write love poems? No! We say, "Oh, you're Sapphic!" when we discover a woman likes to eat pussy! Not cool, history.

"dis-appointed dawncer"
Is this comparing Lucia ("light") to Lucifer ("light-bringer")? She has been "appointed" to "Dis" (city in Hell according to The Divine Comedy, "Dis Pater" being the ancient Roman ruler of Hell, making Hell "the lands of Dis") and considered a "dawncer" as in "the dawn star" or Venus or "the light bringer" or "Lucifer." Not to suggest that Moore is trying to equate Lucia with evil. I think he means as in bringer of revelations while also, perhaps, a person seen by society as chaotic or evil even if they are simply misunderstood. And Lucia is easily misunderstood!

"tearnin'"
"Tears" were involved when "turning" down her career as a dancer.

"prosterous"
Lucia could have had a "prosperous" career in dancing is a "posterous" statement. It is not "preposterous" that she could have made a living as a dancer. "Prost" also means "cheers" in German where the school she could have joined (and been successful in and enjoyed the "cheers" of admirers) was located at Darmstadt.

"careern"
Lucia's "career" "careened" out of control to a degree that caused her to leave dancing.

"prestageous"
The school she would have enrolled in was "prestigious" and a place where she would learn more about dancing before hitting the stage ("pre-stage"). To "presage" something is to have a sign or warning that something bad will happen. Perhaps the failing of her dance career "presaged" her descent into madness.

"Lastbet Druncan Shulethe"
This was a difficult one to figure out but the "Shulethe" made it easier, realizing that it was simply evoking the German for school (since the school was in Germany). That meant trying to find out what school Lucia almost joined but didn't. It's not like her Wikipedia gives the name although it does mention the location of the school, Darmstadt. The article in The Irish Times, linked to above, was the first place I found the names of Raymond and Elizabeth Duncan. Elizabeth offered Lucia a job teaching dance at her academy, the Elizabeth Duncan School, in Darmstadt. But Lucia turned it down, even though it was her "last bet" to continue her dance career. "Druncan" perhaps suggests that her alcohol use ("tipsy" earlier) was part of this although if Moore is suggesting it, I haven't really read anything that would support the assumption that alcohol had anything to do with her choices. "Schule" is German for "school." The word ends in "lethe", as in the River Lethe in Hades which causes a person to forget their past, meaning Lucia was forced to "forget" dancing. This could also tie in with the "drunk" of "Druncan."

"becurse"
Her "forgetting" her past and leaving behind dancing was a "curse" to Lucia.

"herr meister"
"Mister master" in German for "her master."

"'Merzed her"
"Immersed her" but with the proper noun "Merz." This was Elizabeth Duncan's husband whom I couldn't find much about although I didn't spend a lot of time searching because his name didn't have a hyperlink on it in Elizabeth Duncan's Wikipedia page. But I did find a passage in a JSTOR article I couldn't access that referred to him as a "fanatical anti-Semite." I'd say that fits with the stuff that follows. Thus Lucia was "immersed" in Max "Merz's" anti-Semitic beliefs.

"kamflicated"
"Kampf," famously, is German for "fight" or "struggle" or "battle." Thus "complicated" takes on an association with Hitler's Mein Kampf and all it's associated with. The suggestion is probably not that the philosophies of Merz were "complicated" but that having them tied in with Lucia's job and her love of dance "complicated" her passion and career. Also, it was a "struggle" or "Kampf" for her to take this position due to Merz and Duncan's beliefs.

"airy unphilosophies"
A good way of describing Nazi "Aryan philosophies": "un-philosophic" and without substance ("airy").

"fascile"
"Facile" and "fascist" in combination. The "fascist" beliefs of the Nazi were in fact "facile" arguments, shallow and without any merit.

"rachel"
Other than a Friends reference, I have no idea. I mean, I know it's meant to be "racial" but why "rachel"? Perhaps because it's a Jewish name from the Old Testament? The name means "ewe." I suppose this can be taken as in the people who followed the Nazis were sheep (which is the best way to take it) or that Nazi philosophy saw the Jewish people (and other non-Aryans) as sheep. I guess it also means that Rachel from Friends was the superficial sheep-like follower. Yeah, that tracks.

"pressuredice."
"Prejudice" induced by the "pressure" of Nazi aggression. It also once again invokes Eurydice sentenced to Hell by a loved one's act of compassion. In the end, Lucia was forced into hospitals by her family. I don't know if "dice" means anything. Lucia gambled on not taking the job but it was a bad gamble because this was her "last bet" to remain in a "career" in dancing?

Saturday, May 28, 2022

Justice League Europe #2 (1989)


look elongated man has the bends har har

Metamorpho can turn into any element in the world so he chooses to make his fist into a hammer. I don't know. Maybe stick your dick in The Flash's mouth and turn it into a 40/60 Oxygen/Nitrogen mix? This has the added benefit of . . . well, I think you can guess the added benefit.

The issue begins with a silver-haired man overlooking a funeral in a cemetery (with the Eiffel Tower in the background, of course, because I wouldn't want to lose my bet about establishing shots of Paris in this comic book always including the metal erection. Ooh la la). It might be Captain Atom but maybe it's also possibly The Phantom Stranger! No, don't get too excited, Tess (yes, I'm back to pretending my name is Tess). This is only the second issue. Too many minds would be blown if The Phantom Stranger suddenly became integral to the plot. Not mine though. I would just clamp down on my pipe, scrunch up my eyebrows, take a few puffs, and say (out of the side of my mouth), "Tut tut. I see. This comic book is going to get existential." Unless it's going to get spiritual and then I'd say that.

This issue is called, "Somebody Up There Hates Us!" Oh, so maybe it is The Phantom Stranger! He's like God's debt collector. No wait. That's The Spectre. I have no fucking clue what The Phantom Stranger does. I believe it has something to do with never lifting a finger to help anybody at all.


Aside from Catherine's hair, nothing about this comic book page indicates it's from 1989. Everything about it looks so old school. I mean super duper old school. I forget the actual date is 2022.

Because the man who died in the Embassy's foyer was a Nazi, Captain Atom decides to investigate known Nazi organizations, especially those tied to meta-humans. Sue Dibny, showing off her computer skills, gets to work while Ralph's body sits far enough away that he can do his favorite thing: stretch his neck to twenty feet long and make me sick.


You might think Nazis in Santa Cruz sounds weird but, having been a Silicon Valley boy who would spend his summers at the beach, I guarantee you they had a lot of fascist surfers covering their town in fascist graffiti like "Locals Only!" and "Valleys Go Home!" Jerkos!

Sue eye fucks Captain Atom while she gags like everybody else at Ralph's nose twitching. It seems I was a little harsh on her in my last review when I expressed joy in her upcoming death because she loved the nose twitching. But she's just as grossed out by her husband as everybody else. Besides, Captain Atom is practically naked and standing right next to her all smooth and musky and dickless. The dickless part isn't something that would appeal to Sue so I should have left it out. My assumption is that in the actual Justice League Europe universe where they've never heard of the Comics Code Authority, you can see the outline of Captain Atom's dick through the leotard.


If I was trying to remind my wife that I was the one she loved fucking, I wouldn't do it while my neck was twenty feet long so she remembers that my body induces nausea.

My theory is that Sue Dibny was dying of vaginal cancer after fucking Captain Atom constantly during this gig and so she arranged her own murder so Ralph would never find out.

Animal Man and Captain Atom investigate the Nazi camp in Santa Cruz to discover it's been destroyed by some guy named The Wild Huntsman. He's anti-Nazi but he still battles Animal Man and Captain Atom because nobody takes a moment to ask, "Hey, are you antifa too?" I can't wait to read the letters about this issue. "Dear DC Comics, I am chagrined that you have chosen to portray all white people as Nazis. Shame on you for partaking in this kind of political nonsense. You should try to avoid politics or else you will lose half of your readers. The white half. Thank you. Brad Smith of Salinas, Kansas."

Captain Atom blasts The Wild Huntsman who goes down for good. So for good that Animal Man determines the man is in a coma. It looks like he's as mind-controlled as the rest of his Global Guardian buddies. Although if they're being mind-controlled to defeat Nazis, it can't be a bad thing, right? I guess the point is to make it seem like Justice League Europe are defending Nazis and Nazi groups by beating up the Global Guardians who were destroying them.

Whose idea was it to begin this entire series of a Justice League in Europe having to battle Nazis?! I'm yawning pretty hard over here.

Next it's a Power Girl and Rocket Red team-up! They head over to Frankfurt, Germany to question some Nazis where they find the Neo-Nazi headquarters already on fire. Whoever did it is a hero but Rocket Red is all, "I hope nobody is burning alive." Power Girl calls him a fucking Nazi sympathizer and he has to explain World War II history to her, being that she's an American. The only thing Americans know about World War II is that the Japanese sneak attacked us like sneaky motherfuckers and the Americans defeated Germany single-handedly.


I don't mean to sound racist and stereotypical but look at this motherfucking sneak attack!

I'm American so if I'm only slightly sounding racist and stereotypical, I'm doing pretty good!

Oh, maybe you didn't notice I was stereotyping because you had no way of knowing that the person attacking Power Girl and Rocket Red was Rising Sun of the Global Guardians. As everybody but Americans would know by his name, he's Japanese. I'm not usually this self-hating as an American but you wouldn't understand unless you had to live among all these stupid fucking assholes who don't fucking care about kids getting shot up in school. Every gun owner is complicit in every death. It's like if there were suddenly a rash of people entering schools and cutting off kids' heads with comic books and I refused to stop reading comic books. I'd be complicit because I'd care more about my stupid hobby than the lives of kids. Maybe that's not a fair comparison because my life would be so much better if I stopped reading comic books. I'm just looking for an excuse!

Rising Sun's power is to glow really bright and blow up. Is that irony? Is his power darkly ironic?! Anyway, he's brainwashed too and believes the Justice League are modern day Nazis. I'm pretty sure they aren't but we're only two issues in so I'm not going to jump to any conclusions.


Fast is right. According to The New 52's Worlds' Finest, Power Girl loves to stick her finger up the asses of her dates.


See?

Seeing these scans of comic books thirty years apart makes me think comics are worth five to six times more today.

Ha ha no not really.

Power Girl nearly takes Rising Sun's head off. She claims she "pulled her punch" but how much would she know to pull her punch? She and Rocket Red knew nothing about this guy. She could have beheaded him! Although we, the readers, know he was mind controlled and now he's basically in a coma like The Wild Huntsman.

Metamorpho, Elongated Man, and The Flash head to Dover, England, to look into a Neo-Nazi group. This superhero team up gets three members because two are basically redundant. Yes, I know "elongation" powers are way different than "can transform into any element" power but Metamorpho mostly just uses his power like he's a stretchy shapechanger.


Ralph could pass as normal if he didn't insist on keeping his neck three to twenty feet longer than normal.

Metamorpho was killed at the end of The Outsiders comic book when Doctor Jace turned out to be a Manhunter. But he's back because a meta(l)-gene bomb blew up in Invasion! recently and somehow brought him back. But he doesn't remember anything from the previous five years of his life. This being a comic book, that could mean he doesn't remember anywhere from 2 to 25 years of continuity.

Wally and Ralph go off to get snacks while Metamorpho hangs about to be attacked by a Savage Dragon look-a-like named Tuatara. I mean, Savage Dragon obviously stole his look because Image didn't exist yet. Tuatara knocks everybody overboard because it was on the cover. And then things get weird and disturbing.


What element naturally takes the shape of a giant penis and scrotum?

Metamorpho hardly cares about his elemental power at all. He just uses it as an excuse to become huge swimming dicks and flapping vaginas (I didn't scan the panel where he engulfs Tuatara in a huge labia trap).

Tuatara eventually falls unconscious like the other Guardians. Apparently the brainwashing to make them see every hero as a Nazi takes a heavy toll on them. On the way to shore, Ralph begins twitching his nose and everybody tells him to stop before they throw up on everything.


Man, I'm really sorry I got on your case, Sue. You're obviously super intelligent and don't love your husband at all.

The issue ends with Jack o' Lantern and Owl Woman discussing how they (along with their "queen" who I'm assuming is Queen Bee of Bialya doing all the mind control) and the Dome are back in business. Bad business!

Letters this issue are from Jack Cyclone of Albuquerque, New Mexico; Casey Gallagher of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Don Lambert Junior of Mechanicsville, Iowa; Marco Gonzales Ambriz of Old Mexico; T.A.P. of Burnaby, British Columbia; Tim Dunnahoo of Temple, Texas; John Egnew of Champaign, Illinois; and Mike Norris of Milpitas, California. Nobody mentions the Letterer. Or any of the other artists, really. All the letters this month are people writing in to say why they disagree or agree with the roster of Justice League Europe. All these letter writers must have creamed their jeans when the Internet became mainstream so they could spew all of their boring opinions straight out into the ether for free!

Don't you dare say I resemble that remark, you jerks!

Justice League Europe #2 Rating: C. I would have given this issue a better grade if The Elongated Man had refrained from stretching his disgusting neck. But since he did it right on the cover, I already knew this issue was going to be a huge loser. I wish he'd drowned.

Thursday, May 26, 2022

Alan Moore's Jerusalem: Book 3: Vernall's Inquest: Round the Bend: Line 50

Line 50: "Allover turnage salves, the preena dolorinas and Fressh-kisen mnymthomaniacs are insat amist the nexted friguleens, alluv the maid-up shagbrag abawd underlit and moon-age formircations with a fuctional yang Letin lovher she'd unvented blyther cleudonym of Sempo, sempo fiddles, allus faithfeel, ween in factual act her lonly senxual explortations hid bone whet'her holdher bluther."

Non-Lucy-Lips Version: "All of her teenage selves, the prima ballerinas and French kissing nymphomaniacs are inset amid the nested figurines, all of the made-up brags about underage and moonlit fornications with a functional young Latin lover she'd invented by the pseudonym of Sempo, semper fidelis, always faithful, when in actual fact her only sexual explorations had been with her older brother."

"Allover"
"All of her" as well as "all lovers" or "all of her lovers" though, as we'll see, she really only had the one, Giorgio, in her youth.

"turnage"
Each age in turn yet existing all at once, represented by the nested dolls. Each age remains within every new age as the seasons turn.

"salves"
Her past memories, past selves, soothe (or "salve") Lucia.

"preena dolorinas"
Lucia was a dancer and so one of her early selves was a Prima Ballerina. It's an easy assumption to believe she was "preening." "Dolor" means a state of great sorrow or distress. It's possible Lucia was forced to stop dancing by her father because the stress caused so much friction between Lucia and Nora which made it hard for him to work on his book. This caused Lucia a great amount of sorrow and distress. Possibly an allusion to the slang use of "Prima Donna" as well, meaning Lucia was self-centered and temperamental.

"Fressh-kisen"
As we see in this sentence, Lucia lied about and bragged about an imaginary lover. Her French-kissing of this lover was probably more her kissing a pillow ("Kissen" being German for pillow or cushion). Possibly "Ssh" as in something secret or whispered because Lucia was lying.

"mnymthomaniacs"
"Nymphomaniacs" are women who love sex. A "mythomaniac" is somebody who is obsessed with lying. Lucia was lying about her sexual exploits.

"insat"
INSAT is the India National Satellite System. So maybe when Lucia used "ind" earlier, it was meant to be India! Maybe there's an even deeper layer to Lucia's confessions that have to do with international espionage! Maybe this has a whole insane Pale Fire level to it! Or, you know, probably not. This probably just reiterates the whole dolls are both "sat" and "inset" inside one another.

"amist"
Memory is often referred to as foggy or as being seen through a "mist."

"nexted"
Each "nested" figurine is followed by the "next" figurine in Lucia's chronology.

"friguleens"
"Figurines" with "frig" or "frigid" suggested which are opposites. But it makes sense because Lucia is bragging about fucking some guy named Sempo ("frig") but not actually doing that ("frigid"). Although she is fucking Giorgio so not really that frigid. I don't know about the end of the word. Maybe "eens" as in "teens"?

"alluv"
This sentence is about having sex so "luv."

"maid-up"
Lucia was a "maid" ("maiden," virgin) who has "made-up" a story about getting laid.

"shagbrag"
To "brag" about "shagging."

"abawd"
A "bawd" is a woman in charge of a brothel. "Bawdy" is humorously sexy (or sexily humorous?). In a way, Lucia is the madam in her fantasy as she provides herself with a lover. Her story about a lover basically named "Fidelity" is also pretty funny.

"underlit and moon-age"
Spoonerism for "underage and moonlit." "Moon-age" means Lucia was about the age of first menstruating. "Underlit" as in mood lighting for sexual escapades.

"formircations"
This sentence is really scaring me. I think the previous 50 sentences were Alan Moore preparing the reader for his really insane wordplay. If 50 sentences in I'm having difficulty with the interpretation, what's it going to be like when I'm 1000 lines in? Oh god. Are there 1000 lines?! There are fifty pages at maybe 20 lines per page so . . . oh no. Oh god. No. What am I doing with my free time?!

"formircations" 2nd try
Obviously this is meant to be "fornications" which is another way of saying "doing the birds and the bees." If I were Alan Moore, I would have made it more like "fabrications" because Lucia is making her hot sex stories up. But instead, we get "former" and "form" from this hybrid word. So in a "former" life, Lucia took the "form" of a "nymphomaniac" although she was lying because she was a huge liar who loved "kissing" "pillows."

"fuctional"
This is wear I wipe my brow and say, "Whew!" Because I can do this one! Alan Moore put the "fuck" in "functional." That doesn't really work unless you "fuck" up the word the way Moore did. Also this kind of sounds like "fictional" because Lucia is a liar. Or was a liar when she was young. I think this is just an aspect of the current "doll."

"yang"
This is the active male principle of the universe in Chinese philosophy. Lucia has a "fictional" "young" "male principle" that she tells everybody she is boning.

"Letin"
"Let in" from "Latin." Lucia "let in" her "yang" lover (the pillow). She probably put it between her knees and rode it aggressively.

"lovher"
Lucia just wanted a "lover" that would "lover her." That's why her imaginary beau gets the name "Fidelity."

"unvented"
Lucia "invented" a fake lover to "unleash" or "vent" her sexual fantasies on.

"blyther"
"Bly" is a likeness or resemblance. "Bly" with "her" suggests Sempo's entire likeness was that of Lucia because he was a figment of her imagination. "Blithe" is also "casual or heedless" as well as "of a happy or lighthearted disposition." Lucia resembles both of those definitions. "Scyther" is a Pokemon.

"cleudonym"
The "pseudonym" of her fake lover is a "clue" to his real (I mean fake?) identity. "Cluedo" is a game where you play fictional characters. But to solve a crime and not to have sex with.

"Sempo, sempo fiddles"
Sempo is the name of Lucia's fake lover. Maybe it's actually "Semper" since later in the sentence there's a clause that says "always faithful." That's how the reader knows to read "sempo fiddles" as the Marine's slogan of "Semper Fidelis." Although why the Marines have a slogan that means "I will not fuck around on my wife" is a bit weird. Anyway, Moore's twisting of "semper fidelis" is funny and clever and dirty so I really like it. Because "fiddles" means sexual molestation usually with the digits of the hand (or toe? Can you fiddle with your toes?).

"allus"
"All of us." Or perhaps "all luc" as in a shortened form of Lucia? So Sempo is "all Lucia." I don't think he's "all us" though because I'm terrible at fiddling.

"faithfeel"
This is like "mouth feel" but for the spirit. Although it's pretty easy to feel faith and loyalty in an imaginary lover. Unless your self-esteem is tragically low.

"ween"
Like a penis. Maybe with "faithfeel ween" in that it takes "faith" for Lucia to "feel" Sempo's "ween."

"factual act"
The complete opposite of "actual fact." Sempo is, in "fact," an "act."

"lonly senxual"
Lucia's "only" "sexual" experience so far has been "lonely" in that it was with her brother and who can you brag to about that?! She'd rather fuck a pillow and brag about that. "Senxual" is a combination of "sensual" and "sexual." Although I'd argue that having sex with a sibling is hardly "sensual." I guess Giorgio was just a romantic.

"explortations"
"Explorations" with a big old "splort" in the middle. "Splort" is the sound the penis makes when it ejaculates.

"hid bone whet'her holdher bluther."
Let's just wrap this up with the final clause all at once. "Hid bone" is obvious but I might have some fourth graders reading this so I should explain: "hiding the bone" is what adults call "putting the penis in the vagina (or possibly the butt)." "Whet'her" means that Giorgio got Lucia "wet" when he "hid" his "bone" inside "her." "Holdher" means he was tender, I guess, and cuddled afterward. "Bluther" probably means it was a "blunder" to "hide the bone" with her "brother." Maybe there's a hint of "blood" in "bluther" because Giorgio took her virginity.

Alan Moore's Jerusalem: Book 3: Vernall's Inquest: Round the Bend: Line 49

Line 49: "Her Babbo's bibby is tocked in the smilest nookst, ind then Luukhere as a mer taddler, boock den winshe alice was his liddel girl, his larking-gloss."

Non-Lucy-Lips Version: "Her father's baby is tucked in the smallest nook, and then Lucia as a mere toddler, back then when she always was his little girl, his looking-glass."

"Babbo's"
James Joyce. In the edition of Ulysses that he dedicated to Lucia, he signed his name "Babbo."





"bibby"
A "baby" wears a "bib." "Babbo's bibby" also sounds like baby talk.

"tocked"
Like the tick of a clock which has caused Lucia to age from Babbo's baby to the old woman she now is.

"smilest"
Babies tend to smile and make people smile. At least that's what I've heard.

"nookst"
"Nook" with perhaps "nest," as in "nested Russian dolls." Also a baby bird ("bibby" for "birdy"?) would be "tucked" away in a nest.

"ind"
Alan Moore is going to drive me insane if he keeps replacing one vowel on an inconsequential word thus turning it into another inconsequential and often nonsense word which doesn't seem to shine any light on Lucia subconscious thoughts. I guess when she meant to stick the conjunction "and" in here, she was thinking about India? Perhaps it's as simple as "There was this baby doll and then the toddler doll which the baby doll was 'in'"?

"Luukhere"
The most twisted version of "Lucia" so far. Here name becomes "look here" or "luck here." Her subconscious sometimes doesn't expose secrets like how Giorgio was fucking her and her mom. Sometimes Lucia's subconscious simply reiterates what she's saying. So here we get Lucia pointing out the baby doll which is "in" the toddler doll which she wants us (the observers?) to see the dolls and exclaims, "Look here! It's me!" The "It's me!" comes through because it's Lucia's name which is being changed to "Look here!"

"mer taddler"
"Mer" as in "mermaid," or "of the sea." We've seen she's metaphorically been both water and fish so that continues. Perhaps it's because her mother's maiden name is Barnacle; perhaps it's just because of her connection to the River Liffey in one of her father's books. "Taddler" could be like a tadpole, another creature of the water. But it could also be "tattler" in that Lucia exposes her family secrets through her odd language. "Taddler" replaces "toddler" so it probably means Lucia was a bit of a tattletale when she was a young girl.

"boock den"
"Back then" but as a book and a den. A den is the lair of an animal and a book is where Lucia currently resides.

"winshe"
"When she" with a hint of "wish." Maybe Lucia "wishes" she were "back then" in the house ("den") with her "father" when he was writing his "books."

"alice was his liddel girl, his larking-gloss."
Alice Liddell was the girl Lewis Carroll based his character Alice (who adventured through the "looking glass"). There's speculation that Lewis Carroll may have had sexual feelings for Alice which parallel the thought that maybe Lucia and her father's relationship was too intimate.

"his larking-gloss"
"Larking" is to behave in a playful or mischievous way. Gloss is like the luster on a surface such as a "looking-glass." "Gloss" can also be to interpret a text as a reader would do reading this chapter. Lucia was James' "looking-glass" as she was a reflection of him. This could also suggest she was a muse for his "books" as he would look into her and his characters would reflect her personality.

Wednesday, May 25, 2022

Alan Moore's Jerusalem: Book 3: Vernall's Inquest: Round the Bend: Line 48

Line 48: "En fict, she's no age atoll: she's orl her silves at whence, curdle to gravey, won insight the ether like a sat of Rushin' dirlls."

Non-Lucy-Lips Version: "In fact, she's no age at all: she's all her selves at once, cradle to grave, one inside the other like a set of Russian dolls."

"En"
Like the "Russian dolls" at the end of the sentence, Lucia is within herself. Every age experienced at once. This is the way I've always explained aging and why in my early to mid 20s, I fell in love with the cartoon Sailor Moon. It wasn't because I was a 20-something year old pervert. It was because I was also still my junior high school self remembering those heartaches and crushes and the intimacy of close young teenage friendships. It's why older people still feel so young; they were younger for many more years than the age they are now. They'll always feel all of those years mixed up. Your past experiences make you who you are and you don't stop being a five year old staring in awed wonder at your first butterfly simply because that time has passed. You are always that five year old. You will never again be that five year old. Lucia, though, it is suggested that she even remembers her future ("cradle to grave") as Snowy Vernall did.

"fict"
"Fact" twisted into "fiction." Lucia's isn't literally different ages depending on her mood. But she metaphorically is and, within her mind, metaphorical is a good enough "fiction" to become "fact."

"atoll"
A ring-shaped reef formed by coral. The shape is reminiscent of a torus, the shape Snowy Vernall was obsessed with. Also "a toll" in that Lucia's "age" may be taking "a toll" on her.

"orl"
Lucia is "all" of her selves at once meaning she is one age "or" another, varying from moment to moment and place to place.

"silves"
Golden years are the years spent by an elderly person. "Silver" would probably mean middle-aged years then? Perhaps meaning currently she feels younger than her actual age. This could also reference "sylvan/elves" as she's out in nature, crossing the lawn and heading toward the grove of trees.

"whence"
Lucia is the source of all her selves?

"curdle"
Suggestive of milk as a baby in a "cradle" would drink. Milk also "curdles" or sours as it ages. Lucia has soured to certain aspects of life. But not all as we'll see!

"gravey"
Lucia's death is imminent as she flounces toward the grave. But also every year is "gravy," to be savoured and enjoyed. If Lucia has soured over time, she still greets every day with "delight" and "joy."

"won insight"
Wisdom and "insight" are hard "won." "Inside" Lucia are many "insights" "won" from her many years of "experience," possibly mainly due to all of her "errors."

"ether"
The sky. Or an anesthetic. Being under the open sky sedates Lucia in a pleasant, stress-free fog.

"sat"
Lucia has a "set" of dolls of herself "sat" inside her.

"Rushin' dirlls."
"Russian dolls" with "rushing girls." Rivers "rush" and so Lucia is a "rushing girl" or "rushing river." "Dirlls" could also be "drills" as in if a person were to "drill" down into Lucia, they would find smaller and smaller, or younger and younger, versions of herself.

Alan Moore's Jerusalem: Book 3: Vernall's Inquest: Round the Bend: Line 47

Line 47: "What the upserver dursn't know, hooever — and there's all-ways en absurver, err at list in Lucia's experience — is that she's nu alld woman."

Non-Lucy-Lips Version: "What the observer doesn't know, however — and there's always an observer, or at least in Lucia's experience — is that she's no old woman."

"upserver"
One who serves while up or serves from up above. Perhaps Lucia refers to the Angles or ghosts like the Dead-Dead Gang? Observers from up above who serve. Definitely sounds like the Angles are watching.

"dursn't"
The statement is "What the observer doesn't know." But when "doesn't" is combined with "durst," does this translate to "What the observer doesn't dare know"? Other than that, I have no clue. Maybe sometimes Lucia's words are just part of her mental illness. Probably not but it's easier to believe that than to try to figure out all of Alan Moore's intentions.

"hooever"
"However" with the suggestion of "whoever." Who is the observer? Who is Lucia?

"all-ways"
A favorite of Alan Moore's as it suggests the entirety of reality and existence. Here we have an observer who sees it all from above. Those residing in the Upper Boroughs can look down and observe every second of every time in every place.

"en"
As in an "en dash" although it's mentioned within a clause set apart by "em dashes." Probably just a joke by Moore. Although the "en" can also indicate within, as in the "observer" is within Lucia herself.

"absurver"
"Observer" but this time combined with "abstruse." These observers are difficult to comprehend. Almost certainly meaning Angles.

"err"
Perhaps "Lucia's experience" (which you'll note is unaffected by her Lucy-Lips) are in error. This suggests the Angles aren't constantly observing everybody even if it is possible for them to do it. Our experiences are doomed to be in error because we cannot truly perceive the entire scope of reality.

"list"
An "error" aboard a boat might cause it to "list." Lucia's mental illness causes her to "list" and to "experience" life in "error."

"she's nu alld woman."
"She's no old woman." But can't this also be read as "she's not all woman"? This refers back to the previous sentence and the use of "hermself" which suggests "Hermes" and "hermaphrodite."

Alan Moore's Jerusalem: Book 3: Vernall's Inquest: Round the Bend: Line 46

Line 46: "Iff she flaunces, as veneficent as elled Sent Knickerless hermself, an innerscent ulled lay-die in a wurli cardiagran out strawling on the institrusion lorns."

Non-Lucy-Lips Version: "Off she flounces, as beneficent as old Saint Nicholas himself, an innocent old lady in a wooly cardigan out strolling on the institution lawns."

"Iff"
"Off" with a vowel change to remind everybody that Lucia is the River Liffey. This has something to do with Ulysses or Finnegans Wake. Not being a James Joyce scholar (or reader!), I can't speculate on the metaphor.

"flaunces"
A "flaunch" is "a cement or mortar slope around a chimney top, manhole, etc., to throw off water." Lucia "flouncing" across the lawn is reminiscent of water being thrown off something manmade. Here, Lucia, the River Liffey, water and light herself, is being thrown off the hospital and thrust into nature.

"veneficent"
"Venerable" combined with "beneficent." Old Lucia is respected and generous like Santa Claus. I believe there was an earlier allusion to The Venerable Bede which this would be a callback to but I don't know much about The Venerable Bede. You can check the Wiki on that guy and know as much as I do and then apply that knowledge to this yourself. I don't mean to sound short tempered or angsty; I just know I'll never hold in my head as much knowledge as Alan Moore does. I'm simply expressing the limits of my intelligence and asking you to do better!

"elled"
"Elle" or "she" in French, combined with "hermself" which follows the Saint Nicholas reference, this could just be a restatement that Lucia is the female version of Santa Claus. An "ell" is also a measurement. In this (Santa) clause, Lucia is being measured against Saint Nicholas for how venerable and beneficent she is.

"Sent Knickerless hermself"
The "her" in "hermself" is to assure the reader that it isn't Saint Nicholas who is going without underwear. "Sent Knickerless" probably just means she's been sent off on her walk without any pants (that's British for underwear! Trousers and slacks is British for pants!).

"hermself"
The next sentence makes the statement that Lucia isn't all woman. So this reads, in that context, as "Hermes" or "hermaphrodite." Lucia sees herself as somewhere between male and female.

"innerscent"
Probably the scent of Lucia's inner thighs because we were just told she was without knickers.

"ulled"
Moore's mangled version of "old." Why did he mangle it like this? I don't know! Maybe it invokes "pulled" as in "scored" in the dating scene so that we get Lucia's "inner scent" has allowed her to "pull" so that she can get a "lay." Or it's a reference to the Norse God (since we get a lot of those in this) Ullr who is sometimes seen as a kind of God of snow or skiing. This only fits in that we mentioned Saint Nicholas earlier and he lives in the snow (presumably!).

"lay-die"
When you die, you lay down (or is it lie down? I'll never understand when to use "lie" or "lay" because it's a binary decision. And when my brain is forced to remember binary things, it simply can't assign the proper definition to the proper concept. It just jumbles them all together. It's why I'll never consistently know which is further west, New Hampshire or Vermont). This could be more foreshadowing that this is Lucia's last day alive. Perhaps when she goes to lie down tonight, she will die.

"wurli"
"Wooly" but evoking "whirling" and possibly "world." Lucia "flounces" and "whirls" in her freedom on the hospital's lawn.

"cardiagran"
This is one of my favorites so far. Lucia is an old lady ("gran") with possibly a weak heart ("cardiogram").

"strawling"
"Strolling" combined with "trawling" which turns Lucia's fish metaphor on its head. Unless it just means she's in search of herself! Possibly "straw" with the suffix "ling" meaning Lucia is a little scarecrow. Does that work? Is that something?!

"institrusion"
Combination of "institution" and "intrusion." The hospital and staff are unwelcome here in Lucia's meandering outside the institution's buildings.

"lorns"
"Lawns" turned into "lorn." Lucia is ultimately lonely, having been abandoned long ago by her family to this intrusive institution.

Saturday, May 21, 2022

Alan Moore's Jerusalem: Book 3: Vernall's Inquest: Round the Bend: Line 45

Line 45: "With a gae spring in her stoop, she-sex out on her walk in purgress, on her wake-myop parundulations, on her expermission, heeding oft acrux the do-we grass twowords the poertree-line of the spinny wetting in the da'stance."

Non-Lucy-Lips Version: "With a gay spring in her step, she sets out on her walk in progress, on her wake-me-up perambulations, on her expedition, heading off across the dewy grass towards the tree line of the spinney waiting in the distance."

"gae"
Scottish for "go". With a gay spring in her step, Lucia "goes" toward the trees.

"spring"
A light prance to Lucia's movement with a call back to the discussion of the seasons.

"stoop"
Lucia's thoughts often contradict what's literally being said. So while she heads off to the trees with a gay spring in her stepped, she's actually stooped over, perhaps hobbling in her old age.

"she-sex out"
Why the dash here? To have the reader understand the "sex" in this moment has more to do with Lucia's gender than her lust? Perhaps she's simply "sexed out" because it's the morning and the young boys don't ramp up her sex drive until four o'clock when they walk by the hospital. So in the morning, she can simply get to her journey to the trees without being distracted by young butts.

"walk in purgress"
"Work in progress." One of Alma's paintings and a chapter in Jerusalem and also what James Joyce called Finnegans Wake as he was writing it and presenting snippets over the years.

"purgress"
"Progress" with "purge" and "grass" and "urge" and "ogress" (probably loads more!). "Ogress" only stands out for me due to the "she-sex" earlier. "Purge" may be the most relevant as Lucia's walk through the natural surroundings of the hospital help to purge her of negative thoughts and feelings associated with being locked up in the asylum. Also with "sex" earlier, her "urge" to continue her walk away from the confines of the hospital and into the far off grove of trees is primal.

"wake-myop"
More dashes but these more evidently due to the non-Lucy-Lips version of her thought: wake-me-up. The morning walks help to clear her head and make her ability to see things as they are less "myopic."

"parundulations"
"Perambulations." Lucia takes regular morning walks ("par", the norm, a regular activity for her) when the nurses allow it. "Undulating" probably refers to a sexual motion, referring back to "she-sex" and her earlier horny voyeurism.

"expermission"
Her expedition to the trees is a daily mission for her. She needs "permission" to make this journey.

"heeding"
As Lucia "heads" toward the trees, she pays close attention ("heeds"; she has woken up from her myopic, probably medicated/sedated, view) to her surroundings.

"oft"
Lucia makes this trip often, or as often as she is "permitted."

"acrux"
"Across" where "crux" literally means "cross" in Latin. Quite the clever bit while also recalling how Lucia is a puzzle and a crossword. "Crux" means the most important point at issue. It's the heart of the matter. Lucia is heading towards the main point of it all, perhaps metaphorically as well as literally. As she moves away from the hospital and the present, she goes deeper into her past and her memories to explore the issues that have gotten her to this point in her life.

"do-we"
Lots of words connected by dashes in this sentence. Perhaps because Lucia is dashing toward the grove? Yeah, probably not. But it would be a good thing to say to help fill out a paper on this chapter! "We" indicates that Lucia's thoughts are probably still with her and Giorgio, perhaps her and her dad since her dad is referred to at the end of this sentence.

"twowords"
Which two words?! This recalls Lucia as a crossword in that many clues in crosswords will indicate how many words an answer is. Perhaps the "crux" of the matter can be expressed in two words? Should I know what those two words are now? Are they statutory rape?

"poertree-line"
Lucia's way of speaking and thinking is "poetry." "Poverty line" as well being that Lucia lives in a mental hospital without access to any luxuries.

"spinney"
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a spinney is a small area of trees and bushes. It is Lucia's daily destination. Also "spin" as in dizzy, probably for the euphoria Lucia feels when she's allowed out of the ward.

"wetting"
"Wetting" couples with "do-we" earlier in that the grounds are still wet from the morning. It also sounds like "wedding" which also fits with "do-we" as in "I do" or a "pair of undulators" saying it ("We do").

"da'stance."
"Distance" with Lucia's "dad's stance." Her dad was often distant. Possibly referring to her dad's belief that Giorgio wasn't actually his kid which opens up the possibility for Lucia to have wedded Giorgio (you know, if things had worked out horrifically).

Alan Moore's Jerusalem: Book 3: Vernall's Inquest: Round the Bend: Line 44

Line 44: "The sauce of her, now!"

Non-Lucy-Lips Version: "The source of her, now!"
So what is Lucy's "source of life" now? The son, Giorgio? The actual sun? Jesus? Herself since she is a representation of all of those in the previous sentence?! Is she her own source of life (and lies!)?

"sauce of her"
Is this gross? This sounds gross. I suppose the things that make us who we are, our passions and our drives and our kinks, could be thought of as sauce. It's the stuff we stew in and the stuff which completes us and the stuff that makes us less bland.

"now!"
It wasn't always this way! She wasn't always her own source of life. So something has changed. She's had some kind of breakthrough. This is probably why she's having another bildungsroman late in life. We'll probably learn more about this as we read further.

Friday, May 20, 2022

Alan Moore's Jerusalem: Book 3: Vernall's Inquest: Round the Bend: Line 43

Line 43: "The bride-green yawns strich all orerrnd her, wid the poplores, erlms and faroof bildungs all roturnin' in her planetree obit, undherstood still art the cindre like the Son, the veri soeurce of lied."

Non-Lucy-Lips Version: "The wide green lawns stretch all around her, with the poplars, elms and far-off buildings all rotating in her planetary orbit, and her stood still at the centre like the sun, the very source of light."

"bride-green"
Lucia as bride. But does the "green" mean she's an innocent virgin as in inexperienced or does it mean she's totally done loads of guys (which she has possibly including Samuel Beckett although he was really pining for her father) as in Frost's poem about nothing gold can stay because it becomes all experienced and green? Or is this a reference to The Bride of Frankenstein which it totally could be because that movie came out in 1935. Remember how she referenced Frankenstein earlier?

"yawns strich"
Lucia is coming awake (yawning and striching) as she leaves the hospital to enter the natural grounds surrounding it. Perhaps this is why she feels like a green bride. It's like when Madonna was all, "You make me feel like I've never fucked before!" It's also an obsolete term for an owl which would be just like Moore to throw around obsolete words he probably uses on the regular. If I really wanted to spend a lot of time writing nonsense explications for this stuff, I'd be following the possibility of The Bride of Frankenstein and the owl as the main thematic aspects of Lucia's subconscious thoughts. But I don't have the time. I'm fifty already!

"all orerrnd her"
"All around her" while setting up the metaphor of the orrery with Lucia at the center (in the Non-Lucy-Lips version of her thought). Also suggestive of an error with "err" but what would that be? An error that Lucia is even here? Perhaps "bride-green" suggests "bridegroom" in reference to Giorgio which was an error?

"wid"
Suggestive of "widow" now that Giorgio has died? Giorgio is the only lover Lucia has thought about so far. I'm probably reaching with the Giorgio stuff although this really makes the whole Bride of Frankenstein thing work since Giorgio was a monster.

"poplores, erlms and faroof"
Come on, Alan! Don't get so abstract that my Lit degree can't even help like it will help me in the entry on "bildungs"! This all just sounds like trees (and a roof!) turned into absolute nonsense! This is the 43rd time that it hits me: this section should be worked out in a discussion group and not by me sitting alone and sad in a tiny office while I listen to "Only Women Bleed" through ear buds. Maybe I should attack these one at a time the way Frankenstein would.

"poplores"
Pop Tarts? Oh! The first obvious being that Lucia is unhealthily fixated on her father is "pop"! So maybe we're referencing the "lore" of her "pop" here. In other words, Finnegans Wake or Ulysses or A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man or whatever else he wrote. The actual Lucy-Lips change is the "lars" with "lores" which makes "lores" the important part of this word. "Lore" can equate to the past or to the fairy tales and mythology Lucia previously mentioned. It is oral tradition, wisdom and history passed by word of mouth. Which is what Lucia is doing with her Lucy-Lips. Although, technically, her language needs to be read to really understand it all. But ignore that because Alan Moore paints it as the words expanding and entering the listener's mind fully formed with all of their meaning, at least when the Angles speak.

"erlms"
"Elms" but with an "r" shoved into the middle. Perhaps "early"? "Her lms"? "Early Ms"? Maybe it's just comparing Lucia to the elms with "her limbs." You stumped me, Moore! Being raised on boring American crossword puzzles, I'm at a disadvantage with this kind of crossword clue, what we call "cryptic crosswords" in the states.

"faroof"
"Far off" but suggestive of the roof of the buildings in contrast with the trees. The buildings located around the grounds are "far off" and distant, no longer within the concerns of Lucia. Oh wait! Putting them all back together, maybe we get something like "the lore from far off realms"? Yep. Got it. That's definitely it and I don't have to think about it any more.

"bildungs"
"Buildings" but turned into "bildungs" as in bildungsroman, a story dealing with a person's coming of age or spiritual awakening. This might be due to Lucia constantly thinking about the formative moments of her past or it could suggest that Lucia, around 80 years of age, has become a new person and is facing a new set of formative years in her moments of freedom from Saint Andrew's Hospital, or from the "bildungs."

"roturnin'"
"Rotating" and "turning" as the spheres on the orrery of which Lucia is at the center. The two words together, describing the motion of the Non-Lucy-Lips sentence's main metaphor, become "returning." As in Lucia is returning to, possibly, her childhood through memory and the adventure of exploring the grounds, the "far off realms."

"planetree"
"Planetary" for the metaphor but more literally a flat expanse surrounded or dotted with trees (the planets in orbit around Lucia).

"obit"
"Orbit" but getting back to the all important spectre of death hanging over everything ("obit-" meaning perished; "obitus" meaning death in Latin). Also often used in place of "obituary" as this chapter could be seen as Moore's obituary for Lucia Joyce. Especially if she dies at the end of it! Shh! Don't spoil it for me!

"undherstood"
"And her stood" (British equivalent of the American "and her standing") but turned almost perfectly into the word "understood." Lucia understands something, perhaps to do with her coming death ("obit")?

"still art"
As a still life. Picture the moment: Lucia standing in a wide empty space with various trees surrounding her at different distances. A moment in the life of a spinning and vibrant solar system of trees and Lucia.

"cindre"
"Cindre" for "centre" because the sun, a glowing hot "cinder", rests at the center of the solar system, or, in this case, the orrery. Lucia is that glowing cinder, burning with lore of her strange past.

"like the Son"
Lucia, at the center of the orrery, compares herself to the sun. But she's also comparing herself to Jesus, possibly due to her persecution by others, possibly simply because of the things her schizophrenia has her believing. The mental connections caused by schizophrenia between everything in the universe can seem quite godlike and all-knowing.

"the veri soeurce of lied."
The sun and, in this case, Jesus are seen as "the very source of light." But here we get both "lied" and "veri" (as in the Latin for truth or reality). Lucia cannot discern the difference between reality and illusion due to her mental illness. It is her "light" that shines on and defines her surroundings. It's possible "soeurce" is meant to suggest Eurydice who was abandoned to Hades because of an act of love. Lucia was sent to the hospital by her father though he was quite against it because he felt it was the best thing for Lucia.

This was the first sentence in a new paragraph so some of the things I've speculated may work into larger metaphors through the paragraph. Or they may go nowhere!

Thursday, May 19, 2022

Alan Moore's Jerusalem: Book 3: Vernall's Inquest: Round the Bend: Line 42

Line 42: "Wye, summertimes she hurdly gnos whatch finny-form she's in at prisent, or if altimately alder not-houses might nut torn out to bye the selfshame plaice, one vurst istabilismend trance-ending innernotional bindaries and filt-wit fausty dactyrs tyin' to gut hauled ov hert sole."

Non-Lucy-Lips Version: "Why, sometimes she hardly knows which funny farm she's in at present, or if ultimately all the nuthouses might not turn out to be the selfsame place, one cursed establishment transcending international boundaries and filled with fussy/Faustian doctors trying to get a hold of her soul."

"Wye"
Wye is a village in Kent. According to Wikipedia, it's name derives from the Old English word for "idol" or "shrine." This is the first word of this sentence so maybe it's just directing the reader to think along religious or small villages in the United Kingdom lines. In railroad terms, a wye is a triangular junction. So maybe we're chugging into a train metaphor.

"summertimes"
"Sometimes," perhaps most often in the "summer" because that's when Lucia will most likely be enjoying the hospital's grounds, Lucia hardly knows where she is. This also suggests that the look of the place transforms in summer (and probably spring but I think we worked through the spring motifs already) and is hardly recognizable from the probably bare and dour grounds in the middle of winter.

"she hurdly gnos"
A "hurdle" is an obstacle which one must get over or past. Here, as she's thinking about the asylum, it probably represents Saint Andrew's Hospital. "Gnos" almost certainly refers to "gnostic" or knowing/knowledge. It's replacing the word "knows" in a clever bit of wordplay.

"whatch"
Lucia hardly knows to "which" booby "hatch" she's been confined.

"finny-form"
Lucia refers to the hospital as a "funny farm." But a "finny-form" could be a fish which she has been compared to previously.

"prisent"
The asylum she is "presently" in is a "prison."

"altimately"
"Ultimately" Lucia might find herself in "alternate" asylums.

"alder not-houses"
I'm not sure why the "alder" for "other" other than her mind is still on the natural beauty of the grounds she's about to explore around the "nut house" which is in no way a real home to her ("not-houses"). Perhaps the alder is mentioned because of its nut-like seeds?

"nut torn out to bye"
Lucia, being mentally ill (the colloquial "nut") has been "torn out" of her life to which she had to say "goodbye."

"selfshame plaice"
Being relegated to a "funny farm" causes Lucia to feel "shame" for her "self" which she might not feel if it hadn't been stigmatized to this degree. A "plaice" is another kind of "finny-form," or fish.

"one vurst istabilismend trance-ending innernotional bindaries"
Lucia sees Saint Andrew's Hospital as the Dead-Dead Gang see it in the previous Book: one establishment composed of all the different asylums across time and space. Lucia especially often cannot tell if she's in Saint Andrew's Hospital or one of the French asylums she spent time in or the place in Switzerland where she was treated by Carl Jung. And her thoughts and perceptions bleed into the space around her, changing it fundamentally so that it becomes all of those places all at once.

"vurst"
Possibly suggestive of "worst" in that they combine to create the worst place mentally and spiritually where a person can be kept. But it also suggests "versed" as in to gain knowledge ("gnos"), just not the kind society would deem beneficial or acceptable. Perhaps "first" as in the "ur" hospital.

"istabilismend"
The place is meant to "stabilize" a patient's mind and to "mend" their mental illness. But perhaps the medication and observations of the staff actually d"istabilis"e their minds.

"trance-ending"
Either the hospital is meant to "end" the "trance" or mental illness of the person deposited within its walls or regular life outside the walls can be seen as a "trance" of rote, meaningless nonsense which mental illness "ends." Schizophrenics would certainly understand the idea of their illness giving them insight and knowledge, waking them from the living trance that the rest of us are in by showing them a different (and more substantial in many ways) reality. It's why they often stop taking medication, seeing it as dulling their senses and cutting them off from their link to all knowledge.

"innernotional bindaries"
A person's inner thoughts could be their "inner notions" which the hospital "binds" with medication. Most of these descriptors of the "cursed establishment transcending international boundaries" describe a place that ultimately "binds" knowledge, knowledge of oneself (inner notions) and perhaps the universe (meditative trances that could bring a person closer to meaning). It binds whatever processes (stabilizes) that cause a schizophrenic to see how it all connects.

"filt-wit"
The hospital and the doctors "filter" the "wit" of patients. More evidence that Lucia feels they are trying to suppress her imagination, beliefs, and insights which her mental illness allows her.

"fausty dactyrs"
This could simply be translated as "fussy doctors" but with the bit at the end of the sentence where Lucia mentions they're trying to take her soul, she might actually mean "Faustian doctors." Although then they'd be Mephistopheles, right? Anyway, the short cut of calling a deal with devil Faustian is what's going on here. "Dactyrs" could be because the doctors are always poking and prodding her with their fingers. It could also just be a reference to Faust, a poem, although I don't know if it were written in dactyls or not.

"tyin'"
I'm sure Lucia has often been restrained by doctors, nurses, and orderlies.

"to gut hauled ov hert sole."
"To gut" can be to eviscerate, metaphorically here (I hope!). The doctors often "hert" or disappoint Lucia. She is often forced or pushed ("hauled") to do things she doesn't want to. Perhaps "hauled ov" suggests "hauled or raked over the coals," something the doctors often to to her to keep her in line when she's acting out or in a terrible mood. All of this leaves her feeling alone ("sole").

Alan Moore's Jerusalem: Book 3: Vernall's Inquest: Round the Bend: Line 41

Line 41: "Heir at Feint Andruse Cycle-logical Infirmitry it is entimely passible, in Lussye's questimation, to slep from the birthly whelm intru a terrortree o' feary-tell and eld mirthology, where every mutterforth is an immadiate and enternal troth."

Non-Lucy-Lips Version: "Here at Saint Andrew's Psychological Infirmary it is entirely possible, in Lucia's estimation, to slip from the earthly realm into a territory of fairy tale and old mythology, where every uttered/muttered word is an immediate and eternal truth."

"Heir at Feint Andruse Cycle-logical Infirmitry"
Lucia takes on the baggage (possibly treatment), or inheritance, of Saint Andrew's Hospital.

"Feint Andruse Cycle-logical Infirmitry"
A feint is a deceptive blow. A ruse is a deceptive gambit. Lucia sees Saint Andrew's as trying to deceive. This fits into her paranoia and the way she sees the doctors as actors and the nurses as pretending at their compassion. Lucia sees the program at Saint Andrew's as a constant cycle of deceptive logic, tricking the patients into believing they need to be there while tricking the patients' friends and families that they're helping them to get better. The patients are kept infirm even though Lucia tries ("itry") to come to a place where she can mend the seam in her mind and life.

"entimely passible"
Saint Andrew's consumes Lucia's life, time passing without any noticeable difference between the days.

"Lussye's questimation"
Lucia spelled in a way that evokes Ulysses. Ulysses' quest was merely to get home, the same as Lucia's here. But it took him ten years. Lucia's has taken quite a bit more ("entimely passible") and, spoiler, she'll never make it home. She is stuck in the cycle of deceptive healing here at the hospital (as she sees it! Don't sue me for libel, Saint Andrew's Hospital!).

"to slep from the birthly whelm"
"To slip from the earthly realm" is both to die and to travel in some magical or supernatural way into another world. This can also be done by sleeping ("slep") by way of dreaming. Slipping from the "birthly" realm also suggests dying as birth gives life and leaving life is death. Am I being patronizing enough in my explications? I'm trying my best to rise above my legacy of constantly getting "expand on this thought" comments on college papers.

"whelm"
This can mean to engulf or to bury, both of which Lucia sees as having happened to her. But it also means to surge like a tide. Lucia, being water, may have it in her yet to overcome the restraints (jesses) put on her by the staff and medication so that she can "slip the earthly realm" and fly free.

"intru"
Lucia slips the earthly realm "into" the "truth" of fairy tales and mythology.

"terrortree"
The "territory" of fairy tales and mythology can be full of "terror." Also she is wandering into the grounds of Saint Andrew's Hospital which contains groves of trees which she will explore.

"feary-tell"
Fairy tales are tales told to invoke fear so that the listener can learn society's mores.

"eld mirthology"
"Eld" is simply another way of expressing "old age." Lucia has become an old woman here in the daily cycle of the hospital, time passing quickly from birth to death in the stagnancy of "heir" days. Lucia finds the stories in "mythology" amusing or "mirthful."

"mutterforth"
I translated this into "uttered word/muttered word" although that seems a stretch. I'm not sure what else it could be though. Every word "muttered forth" from Lucia's lips literally contains immediate and eternal truths as her Lucy-Lips language contains multitudes of unconscious meanings in each single statement. "Muttering" is also hard to understand as is Lucia's language. Mutter could also be "mother" which could be connected to "immadiate" as it contains "I'm mad at."

"immadiate"
Perhaps Lucia's immediate feelings are often rage ("immad", "I'm mad"). This would make sense based on what she sees as an imprisonment in a place that is constantly trying to fool her. And we see that the doctors and nurses take special care to observe her moods before letting her out on the grounds on her own. Today she has shown them she's in a pleasant mood (probably fooled them as much of her Lucy-Lips dialogue suggests her anger still surges beneath the surface) and so is allowed out to explore the grounds on her own.

"enternal troth."
"Troth" is both "truth" and a "pledged loyalty," as one might do when on a "quest." Lucia is "entering" into a "troth." But who is she pledging her loyalty to? Surely not the staff at the hospital. Possibly herself, as she's on "Lussye's quest"? Her eternal truth is to return to home and family (although her family are all dead by now and she has no home to return to).

Alan Moore's Jerusalem: Book 3: Vernall's Inquest: Round the Bend: Line 40

Line 40: "Her, she carn miander reedily betwin her pa'stime and her fewcheers; betorn hear an' dare; betwhether wan welt under noxt."

Non-Lucy-Lips Version: "Here, she can meander readily between her past and her future; between here and there; between one world and the next.
Lucia wanders the grounds thinking about her life and her travels and what might be when she dies.

"Her"
Lucia is herself here on the grounds, away from the influence of family, friends, doctors, and nurses.

"carn"
Can but with cairn, a memorial made of stones, as a grave. Lucia has been interred in this place which will eventually become a memorial to her (as she will eventually be buried on the grounds and people will visit on Bloomsday).

"miander"
To wander but along a predetermined course, as a river (Lucia is a river!). Lucia has been MIA (Missing In Action) since being interred in this hospital.

"reedily"
Reeds grow on the banks of rivers and sway lazily.

"betwin"
Perhaps a suggestion of Giorgio, her sibling although not quite her twin. Perhaps "be twin" suggests Lucia is like a slender reed. Suggestive of winning a bet although I don't know how that fits with Lucia's life.

"pa'stime"
"Pa's time." Her past was the time of her and her father.

"fewcheers"
Her future has little to cheer about.

"betorn"
Remember how Lucia has "quit the seam"? Her mind is torn between her life before the asylum and her life after, between there (her "pa'stime") and here (her "fewcheers").

"hear an' dare"
Her past is now just stories that can be told, or heard. The future is what she may dare to do.

"betwhether"
Whether Lucia is in the past or the future, alive or dead, it is sometimes hard to bet on.

"wan welt"
Lucia is pale and weak, perhaps even showing signs of being beaten or restrained by the doctors and aides from the previous sentence.

"under noxt"
Lucia has lived in the world of her freedom and dancing. She is currently in the world of the asylum which feels like being interred in a crypt or buried "under" ground. The entire thing is noxious, poisonous, unpleasant.

Wednesday, May 18, 2022

Alan Moore's Jerusalem: Book 3: Vernall's Inquest: Round the Bend: Line 39

Line 39: "The weir and wen of it der knot same so influxable as some lockations that hav intertrained her persence down orcross the docaides."

Non-Lucy-Lips Version: "The where and when of it does not seem so inflexible as some locations that have entertained her presence down across the decades."

"weir"
The Oxford dictionary defines "weir" as "a low dam built across a river to raise the level of water upstream or regulate its flow." Since Lucia is water, Saint Andrew's Hospital and its staff must be the dam which regulates Lucia's moods. Possibly also simply her enjoyment of the beautiful grounds are a major factor in her ups and downs. Her mood rises and lowers depending on the season and how the hospital's grounds look, in flower or stripped bare by winter.

"wen"
This could either mean a boil or, in the archaic sense, a large or overcrowded city. Does Alan Moore have a specific idea for all of his word choices or does he sometimes just go, "What's a homophone for this word? I'll just make it that. Probably means something!" Although I don't think Alan Moore would be that careless with his spells (yes, his writing is his spellcasting). So this probably means both. The asylum is large and overcrowded and also that its inhabitants were boils on the world and had to be excised and tossed in the bin.

"der knot"
Lucia invoking German with the article "der" but placing it on the English "knot." This is most likely a callback to "nicht" in the previous sentence since Moore's paragraphs tend to remain thematically linked, and metaphors tend to continue throughout the entire paragraph.

"knot"
Lucia has become entangled in the asylum and cannot free herself.

"knot same"
Lucia is not the same as when she was free of this place. Or, simply, she changes like the seasons, never being the same person as the day before.

"influxable"
This is a good one! "Inflexible" means unwilling to change while "in flux" means constantly changing. So as stated previously, Lucia is never the same and in constant flux. But perhaps she, and everything, is also inflexible in that, according to the themes of Jerusalem, time and history are static and unchanging. What happened, happened, always and constantly.

"lockations"
Lucia is locked inside this location.

"intertrained"
Here we have "inter" again, meaning Lucia has been shut up in what is essentially her grave (she dies on the grounds of Saint Andrew's Hospital). She is also trained to act a certain way, by means of doctor's coercion, medication, and strict daily routines.

"persence"
Lucia's person is her presence. Also could be that each ("per") of Lucia's senses ("sence") have been trained by the staff.

"down orcross"
Earlier, Lucia was described as a puzzle. She was also described as letters in the spoonerism resulting from crossing her t's and dotting her i's. Here, she is a crossword puzzle, a puzzle that must be solved by interjoined and knotted words.

"docaides"
"Decades" but with "doctor" and "aides," suggesting that she has been "interred" and "trained" by the staff of Saint Andrew's Hospital for decades.

Alan Moore's Jerusalem: Book 3: Vernall's Inquest: Round the Bend: Line 38

Line 38: "Bud wort she likes the bestival apout her current reasidance is how it olders with the saysongs, nava quit the seam firm one die to the nicht."

Non-Lucy-Lips Version: "But what she likes the best of all about her current residence is how it alters with the seasons, never quite the same from one day to the next."

"Bud wort"
When we last left Lucia, she was in a bush. Plus this sentence is about the seasons and flowers and plants are some of the best indicators of changes in the seasons other than all the other obvious indicators like temperature and constellations and how high in the sky the sun gets and calendars.

"bestival"
"Festival," as in a celebration, often in regards to the changing of the seasons.

"apout"
One of the definitions of "pout" is to make oneself look sexually attractive which is weird and makes me realize that old men wrote the dictionary. "Oh my! Look at the vixen with the petulant expression of a child! By Jove, I would like to intercourse with her!"

"current"
Remember, Lucia is both water and light! Also the River Liffey which is Lucia!

"current reasidance"
"Current resident" is how you address somebody on correspondence to a place but you don't know exactly who lives there. The ego and individuality of people admitted to Saint Andrew's Hospital are often lost or worn away. Part of Lucia's identity is that of a dancer, thus "reasidance." Perhaps "id" in the middle of "reasidance" suggests Lucia's primary impulse is still to dance. Adding the "a" possibly suggests "reason." It is reasonable for Lucia to still desire to dance even confined to this asylum.

"how it olders"
The grounds on the asylum alter with the seasons as Lucia just gets older every year.

"saysongs"
Stories are songs that are simply said. Lucia is singing her song through her Lucy-Lips narration of a day in her life. Previously, we get "olders" as in Lucia is aging but now we get the childish word construction of "saysongs" to suggest she is still young at heart and in her mind, in her songs and stories and joy.

"nava"
In Hebrew, nava means beautiful. It could also be suggestive of navel as we have a sequence at the end of this sentence that possibly suggests from birth to death.

"nava quit the seam firm one die to the nicht."
"Quit the seam" could possibly be mean being birthed? Then you get your life, "firm one day to the next." But you eventually grow weak and "die," eventually becoming nothing ("nicht," not).

"quit the seam"
The words at the end of this sentence just seem like a hodgepodge of changes which could mean almost anything. The "seam" is where two things are knitted together to make a whole. So somebody who has "quit the seam" has had their "whole" sundered. Lucia has left the "reality" outside the iron railings of the Hospital. Her life has been torn asunder and she now lives only in this dubiously real half. Also, her mind has been rent asunder. She has quit the seam of reality.

"firm one die"
This could possibly be that Lucia's mind was firm one day but no longer. Or it could mean the firm along with the infirm will eventually die.

"one die to the nicht."
"One day to the next." "Nicht" not only means "not" in German but is reminiscent of "Nacht," or night. So we get the phrase "one day to the next" as well as "day to night." Also the combination of death and not makes me think of the Biblical phrase, "ashes to ashes, dust to dust." This isn't just a phrase about being buried or interred in the ground for eternity; it's a suggestion of the Resurrection as well. This could be a reference to the seasons as an eternal metaphor for death and resurrection. It could also be commentary on Lucia who, having been buried away at Saint Andrew's Hospital, has come back as a new person who is thriving in this world.

Alan Moore's Jerusalem: Book 3: Vernall's Inquest: Round the Bend: Line 37

Line 37: "Spitty as a pricksure they go scruffling down the Bulling Roude beyond the iron realings, snurchin' up each other's badgered caps an' grubbin' at each other's bawls wit' wilde hellarity, obliffeyus to her sprying from the foolyage in wishtful, privet larchery."

Non-Lucy-Lips Version: "Pretty as a picture they go scuffling down the Billing Road beyond the iron railings, snatching up each other's battered caps and grabbing at each other's balls with wild hilarity, oblivious to her spying from the foliage in lustful, private lechery."

"Spitty as a pricksure"
Ejaculation/orgasm. Lucia is working herself up into a foamy soup of pleasure. "Pricksure" is a reference to "cocksure," "arrogant or confident." Probably more a description of the schoolboys she's lusting after than Lucia herself.

"scruffling"
Scuffling with an "r" thrown in to show that they're scruffy and scuffling. This adds to the image that they're wild, school having yet to actually tame them.

"Bulling Roude"
Saint Andrew's Hospital and the boys grammar school were/are on Billings Road in Northampton. Lucia sees them as bulls, more rough, wild animal imagery. A stampede of boys being as effective in their destruction as a squall of boys. "Roude" is probably simply a combination of "road" and "rude." I probably don't have to explain why teenaged boys might be described as rude.

"beyond the iron realings"
The fence around Saint Andrew's Hospital keeps out the real world. Lucia lives in an unknown state caused by her paranoia and schizophrenia and, probably, her medication.

"snurchin' up"
"Snatching" combined with "urchin." Lucia can't help filling her thought with descriptions of these boys she's eye-fucking.

"badgered caps"
I translated "badgered" as "battered" but it could easily be something else. The badger simply evokes more wild, untamable beasts.

"grubbin'"
Like a wild boar searching for food. We get it, Lucia! These kids are wee wild beasties!

"each other's bawls"
They're playing one of those boyhood games where you smack your friend in the crotch. I never understood those games. How is that a game?! I don't want to be punched there at all! "Bawls" also suggests crying noisily which is what I would do if a friend suddenly punched me in the balls.

"wit' wilde hellarity"
"Wit" is not how I would describe a game where you punch your mate in the testicles. But that's probably the height of their wit which is why Lucia brings it up. "Wilde" is probably a reference to Olivia Wilde because these young boys would totally hit themselves in the balls over her. "Hellarity" reminds the reader that teenaged boys are the worst. It is hell to be among them and their wit and their ball-grabbing.

"obliffeyus"
Yet another reference to the River Liffey but also suggesting her father's Ulysseus. Maybe this is warning the reader that if they're oblivious to Ulysseus, they will not notice the horny woman staring at them from the bushes. What I mean is that the reader won't get a lot of Alan's references.

"sprying"
Lucia is spying on the spry young boys who she would like to pry from the real world and take them with her.

"foolyage"
Lucia is a fool for thinking the spry young boys would want anything to do with her vagina. Well, maybe some of them would. But then they would be the fools! No wait. They'd be gods among their peers, actually.

"wishtful"
Lucia lustfully wishes she could bang these teenagers. What kind of meds do they have her on?! Did Samuel Beckett ever write a play about a young writer trying to learn about art from his master while the master's daughter constantly tries to fuck him. Wasn't this a sitcom on Fox in the late 1980s?

"privet"
Lucia's private thoughts while hiding in a "privet," or bush. Probably also a reference to her lower lady parts, being considered both privates and bushy.

"larchery"
"Lechery" combined with "archery," bringing us back to the Eros and Psyche myth evoked in the previous sentence. Lucia was also described as a "darter" earlier. So here we see her eyes lecherously darting like arrows back and forth between all the various young asses moving past the hospital.

Monday, May 16, 2022

Alan Moore's Jerusalem: Book 3: Vernall's Inquest: Round the Bend: Line 36

Line 36: "She injoys the handson dictors with their bed's-eye menners, und dien, roughly for o'cock, she aften langours at the gaits to watch the jesslin' squallboys from the Glammar Scruel that stems adjescent to hier pysche-hattrick instincution."

Non-Lucy-Lips Version: "She enjoys the handsome doctors with their bedside manners, and then, roughly four o'clock, she often lingers at the gates to watch the jostling schoolboys from the Grammar School that stands adjacent to her psychiatric institution.

"injoys"
Joy from inside. Perhaps a reference to feeling sexual pleasure from the attention of the doctors. I don't think any of the following suggests the doctors are overstepping their position; I just think Lucia derives sexual pleasure from the attention, being that she lacks any real intimacy.

"handson dictors"
She wants to put her hands on the dicks of the handsome doctors.

"bed's-eye menners"
She can't take her eyes off these men who administer to her while she's in bed.

"und dien"
German for "and serve." I'm not clear on how this fits into the context of the hot doctors and the horny patient unless I'm simply denying the obvious sexual connotations of servicing somebody. I'm sure that's it. She serves roughly for cock (see next phrase!).

"roughly for o'cock"
Alan Moore needs to get his "l" key fixed! I stole that joke from The Clock on the Wall located in MUSH space at TinyTim. We all understand dirty jokes so I don't have to explicate this any more. I mean, sure, I've been explicating super obvious things this entire time and probably missing really deep and well constructed dualities. But I accept that Alan Moore is approximately 30 thousand times smarter than I am. Anyway, Lucia wants some cock already.

"langours"
Basically to linger pleasurably. And we know what kind of pleasure this lingering to watch the school boys gives Lucia because her Lucy-Lips have put her unconscious right out there for everybody to see. She's super horny all the time now. I imagine she hasn't had a really good lay since Samuel Beckett. And even then, he probably didn't fuck her. He probably just sat naked in a chair staring out the window thinking about being as great a writer as James Joyce as Lucia diddled herself on the windowsill.

"gaits"
Lucia hangs out by the gates of the hospital ("gaits") watching the asses of the young boys as they walk by ("gaits").

"jesslin' squallboys"
A "jess" is a harness for a falcon in falconry to which you would attach a leash. Perhaps this indicates their ferality and possibly that Lucia would like to tame them or that school and society have put the jesses on them to turn them into proper gentlemen instead of raging squallboys. The "squall" in "squallboys" (meaning "schoolboys," of course!) continues the thread of the boys being wild. Since squall's bring heavy moisture, the indication is that Lucia is properly turned on by watching the schoolboys pass the hospital. You know what I'm talking about! The sexual response in the female anatomy!

"Glammar Scruel"
The boys are "glamorous," probably more in the idea of a spell which charms the onlooker than like a model, being that Alan Moore wrote this. Lucia sees school as cruel which fits with the idea of imagining the boys in jesses as the school tries its best to turn them into something they were never meant to be. Lucia probably empathizes with them as her situation is reflected in this perception.

"that stems adjescent"
Changing "stands" to "stems" seems a long way to go for not much pay off so Alan must have chosen it for a particular reason. The only one I can come up with, no surprise, is that a stem is phallic and so this is Lucia once more thinking about cock. The rest of the sentence supports this reading so I'm not too concerned that it's just my mind that is constantly thinking of cock. "Adjescent" calls back the "jess" from earlier, just in case the reader missed it because they were unfamiliar with falconry. If they noticed it here, they might go, "Oh wait! Didn't Lucia use jess earlier too? I wonder what that is?!" It's also reminiscent of "ascent" which, according to our sexy theme for this sentence, probably reflects Lucia's desire to climb on top of the squallboys' stems.

"hier"
Because this word should be "her," it probably means the transformative word references Lucia. In this case, we have a variant on the prefix "heiro-" which means "sacred" or "priestly." This could be an indication of her celibacy but also that Lucia's daily motions are like a catechism. Observing the boys at 4 o'clock every day is one of her sacred devotions.

"pysche-hattrick instincution"
This is wild and probably above my capacity for interpretation. First we get the flipped letters in "psyche," "pysche." This is possibly an actual typo but how can a person tell?! A "hat trick" is either when a hockey player scores three goals in one game or simply a reference to a magician pulling a rabbit out of his hat. I doubt Lucia knows anything about hockey so we'll assume this references the rabbit out of the hat. And since this is a mix-up of the word "psychiatric," let's assume this magic trick references the hospital. Perhaps Lucia sees the hospital's attempt to pull the real and sane Lucia out of her schizophrenia as a silly magic trick that ultimately means nothing. As for "instincution," I think I'm spent on this sentence. What does it mean? I don't know! It hints at "instinct" and "persecution," I think. Maybe the institution's instinct is to persecute rather than to help make the patient whole. Perhaps this is why Lucia views the place as a magician attempting an inconsequential trick to fool outside observers into thinking they've changed an insane patient into a sane one.

"pysche"
Whoops! Because of the misspelling or typo or, for whatever reason, purposeful change of psyche, I forgot to even discuss it. Obviously this has to do with Psyche of the Cupid (or Eros) and Psyche myth. If I could remember anything about C.S. Lewis's Til We Have Faces, maybe I'd have more to say about this! And maybe I'd get the whole Psyche scoring a Hat Trick reference!

Sunday, May 15, 2022

Alan Moore's Jerusalem: Book 3: Vernall's Inquest: Round the Bend: Line 35

Line 35: "Though it's not ideyll she likes displace the best of all she's in-bin."

Non-Lucy-Lips Version: "Though it's not ideal, she likes this place the best of all she's been in."

"ideyll"
Saint Andrew's Hospital grounds are not ideal because they're not exactly idyllic.

"displace"
This place is a place where Lucia feels displaced. She would rather be visiting a beautiful garden of her choice rather than one where she has been forced.

"in-bin"
Lucia has been tossed in the bin. She has been discarded and forgotten. These are all things that make the gardens less than ideal. But the garden is, at least, better than the ward.