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Tumbarumba First Lines, #2: Jim
The first lines of James Patrick Kelly's Tumbarumba story, "Painting the Air":
"I'm sick of dusting her fans!" Jaya stepped out of her pants and tossed them at Hool, her djinn lover. They fluttered across the room and spun to rest under his bed. "Grinding pigment for that old crow's paint. Lugging bolts of silk from the market." She unstrung the laces of her shirt and let it fall from her shoulders. The damp, smoky air of the room seemed to cling to on her skin. It was a relief to be naked.
Nine more days.
Did I mention, by the way, what a tumbarumba is? It is a tmesis, as per the John O'Grady poem.
Posted by benrosen at November 22, 2008 09:21 AM | Up to blogComments
Correction: "Tumba-bloody-rumba" is an example of tmesis. Tumbarumba is a town in Australia.
Posted by: Ted at November 22, 2008 08:29 PM"Tumbarumba" is also a synonym for tmesis -- as you will find noted in both Wikipeida's "tmesis" article, and the article about the town.
Posted by: Benjamin Rosenbaum at November 22, 2008 09:00 PMTumbarumba was part of the mandatory grammar on the floor of my father's factory. The required and only word to be put into nearly every word and phrase was "fuckin".
Posted by: David Rosenbaum at November 25, 2008 09:08 PM