An escutcheon of his family of
origin vanished, returned and vanish-
ed again repeatedly from his study

where it periodically hung on a wall.
It is rumored that he took it down him-
self because he is so uxorious and

didn’t wish his wife to think he was
showing partiality toward his family
of origin. Actually, members of his

immediate family including the claus-
trophobic daughter who was born
while his wife was restricted to a

accouchement experienced
repetitive vertiginous movements
because their father kept taking down

the escutcheon and then returning it
because he was caught between his
uxoriousness and pride in his family

of origin. The daughter wanting des-
perately to stop spinning placed an
escutcheon of her mother’s family of

origin on the family yacht to go with
the one which now hangs permanently
in her father’s study. Unfortunately,

she was so dizzy at the time, she attach-
ed the escutcheon to the bow instead of
the stern. Her mother won’t talk to her.

Recently, I read a poem with four words apparently thrown in to throw the reader. The words simply were listed one right after another and were not incorporated into the body of the poem in any meaningful way. Well, the words threw me, so I looked them up and included them in a poem. The definitions of those four words follow. Kudos to those who knew the words.

1. escutcheon:

a: a defined area on which armorial bearings are displayed and which usually consists of a shield

b: a protective or ornamental plate or flange (as around a keyhole)

c: the part of a ship’s stern on which the name is displayed

2. uxorious

a. excessively submissive or devoted to one’s wife.

b. excessively or foolishly fond of a wife; doting on a wife.

c. excessively fond of, or submissive to, a wife; being a dependent husband.

3. accouchement:

a: a confinement during childbirth; a lying-in.

b: delivery in childbed; parturition.

c: delivery in childbed.

4. vertiginous:

a: turning about an axis; revolving or whirling.

b: affected by vertigo; dizzy.

c. tending to produce vertigo.