rampire: (n.) a dam, a barrier to water.

This poem is based on events which took place 20 years ago, but it remains one of the funniest true stories in circulation. The state of Michigan threatened to impose fines of $10,000 per day on a land owner for building a dam on a stream without a permit. It turned out that the dam was built by beavers. The reply from the land owner has gone viral as perhaps the best example of dealing with over-officious public officials ever. The correspondence, along with background information, can be viewed here:

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/dammed-beavers/

My much-treasured Christmas present for 2017 is a book by Paul Anthony Jones: "The cabinet of linguistic curiosities". Each page contains a descriptive story about some obscure or archaic word. It occurred to me it would be a fun exercise to try and write, each day, a poem featuring the "word of the day" from the book.

Thanks for reading.

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