Jabberwock to Tabula Rasa

A clean slate… raised in a home

of idiosyncratic folks with changing moods

leaves a plethora of sensory inputs.

As adults, they read the room, check faces,

voices and silences – and then relax.

With cultural conditioning

And varied experiences from society

the mind goes jabberwocky.

Jabberwocky?? Yeah, dude! Cool, Dude!

No longer the ‘goo-goo’, ‘baa-baa’ and babble …

The lexis now chortles, chuckles, slithy and smogs.

In a land of ‘boomer’ aunts and ‘Ok’ uncles

always at sixes and sevens – Sigh!

They’ve no clue about the ‘six-seven’ that Gen Z

and Gen Alpha gloat over and brag about.

They believe the “jabberwock, with eyes of flame”

will come “whiffling through the tulgey wood”

They’re ready for the spar with

“vorpal sword” and “snicker snack”

And when they “galumph” into their comfy rooms

Into the safety of the night, they let go,

As they unconsciously drift into slumber.

It’s Tabula Rasa, until morn!

Note: This verse has several words borrowed from Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky, where Humpty Dumpty talks to Alice- yes, Alice in Wonderland.  In Carroll’s world, nonsense is not the absence of order, but a shield against an absurd world. Likewise, the Gen Zs and Alphas coin their own jabberwocky words and thoughts to wade through societal expectations.  Yet, in sleep, the mind gets back to Tabula Rasa, or blank state, at least until the next morning…