The Twaddle and the Gurck (1976)
Even during the Tea Party era, Travis continued to write poems and stories.  “The Twaddle and the Gurck” was one of them, coming to him in a rush of inspired lunacy in 1968!  In 1976, at a party hosted by composer-arranger David Pinto (who had worked on “Changeling”), Travis performed his “Peerless Goth” for David's guests and then, telling the unsuspecting audience that most of them would have learned the next rhyme at their mother's knee, invited them to join in the refrain and began:

     “Full Tane and Twilly were the Woof, 
     But their pockenthatch lay queerily denn. 
     Sighed Imberlick, 'Lass hoe nie sufe!'
     And Umberling gas worrily, 'Venn!'"

     The Twaddle cam and gie the twack
     The Twaddle gare and capricocious
     The Twaddle, ratch and lapfernack
     And, inciderilly, ociferocious!”

About the time the bemused crowd began to titter nervously, Travis' wife, Judy, his daughter, Lisa and perhaps a half dozen others (who had just learned the refrain the day before), joined in the chorus!

     “Cai, if an Illy cry 'Dunaire' . . .”

 You could almost feel everyone's hair stand on end! Some, unfamiliar with onomatapoeia and the refrain, began silently moving their lips, perhaps seeking to conceal how badly their mothers' failed them in their childhood!   It was great theater, great fun and a highlight of the magical evening which included halting recitations of Lewis Carroll's “Jabberwocky” and the premiere of a new song arranged by David Pinto and performed by The 5th Dimension's Billy Davis Jr. and Marilyn McCoo Davis!
“The Peerless Goth” and “The Twaddle and the Gurck” will be included in Travis' “Odd Tales and Wonders,” scheduled for audio release in 1999.
Defining characteristics:  poet.  n. [Fr. poète; L., Sp., and It. poeta; Gr. poietes, one who makes, a poet, from poiein, to make.]  1. a person who writes poems or verses.  2.  a person who writes or expresses himself with imaginative power and beauty of thought, language, etc.  (Editor's note.  By now, Travis was known to a small, select circle, as much for his exceptional storytelling as for his songs!)