The Blind Men and the Fan

© 2005 by Kip Williams

Six learned men were at a con The Fourth then felt around him;

To logic much inclined And a bag of dice did find.

And by strict observation And from their polyhedral forms

(Though lacking vision, mind), A thought came to his mind

Each KNEW in his own words and way And straightaway he said "FANS are

How "FAN" should be defined. "To GAMING much inclined."

So they descended on a fan The Fifth detected fingers

Relaxing in a chair Fast IM'ing as they spoke,

As THE example to define Put two and two together

All fans, be they so rare. And asserted, "Okey doke—

And they set out, these learned souls, He doesn't watch OR read the stuff,

To do so, then and there. He's just a SOCIAL bloke."

The first man, groping near his hand The Sixth man came to take his turn

A book encountered then, And happening to pass

And quickly made his own conclusion His hand against his spectacles

Re: the tastes of fen. Deduced from out his ass

And claimed in accents clear, "From observation, I've confirmed

"All fans are LITERARY MEN." A fan's a LOOKING GLASS."

Rejecting this, the Second's hand And in this like, these mighty men

In's pockets then did fall Did argue through the night

And pulling out a ticket stub Though they could not see anything,

Did his deduction call: To each, 'twas black and white.

"These fans, you see," asserted he, And to this day, they shout away

Love MEDIA, that's all!" Each claiming to be RIGHT.

The Third heard this impatiently, --after John Godfrey Saxe (1816-1887)

So eager to decide, [hat tips to Harold Groot and Martin

And rummaged in his satchel. DeMello for, you know, stuff]

Finding music there inside,

He made his mind up, thusly: "Why,

'Tis MUSIC that's their pride!"

Data entry by Judy Bemis
Hard copy provided by Geri Sullivan

Updated March 6, 2007. If you have a comment about these web pages please send a note to the Fanac Webmaster. Thank you.