{
 "id": "mina-loy/lions-jaws",
 "title": "Lions’ Jaws",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Mina Loy",
 "poet_slug": "mina-loy",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Poetry",
 "book_slug": null,
 "book_kind": "compilation",
 "sequence": null,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1920,
  "venue": "The Little Review 7.3 (September–December 1920)",
  "note": "Issue read from the masthead of the bound volume scanned as littlereview07mcke; the poem is listed in that issue's contents and printed over Loy's byline.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/littlereview07mcke"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/mina-loy_poetry",
  "file": "poetry.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
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   "https://collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/17374476",
   "https://archive.org/details/sim_others-a-magazine-of-the-new-verse_1916-07_3_1/page/27",
   "https://collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/17390662",
   "https://archive.org/details/othersanantholo01kreygoog",
   "https://archive.org/details/cu31924022030351",
   "https://archive.org/details/littlereview07mcke/page/n199",
   "https://archive.org/details/sim_others-a-magazine-of-the-new-verse_1917-04_3_6",
   "https://archive.org/details/sim_dial_1921-06_70/page/672",
   "https://archive.org/details/sim_dial_1921-08_71/page/n15",
   "https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.32106010168349",
   "https://archive.org/details/contact-collection-of-contemporary-writers/page/137",
   "https://personal.colby.edu/~isadoff/map/loy.doc",
   "https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/11/digital_objects/211477",
   "https://digitalcommons.whitworth.edu/transatlantic/1/"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-12"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 139,
  "n_stanzas": 12,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 56,
  "max_indent": 3
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 "site_ready": true,
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 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "O far away on the Benign Peninsular",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": ". . . . .",
    "indent": 3
   },
   {
    "text": "That automatic fancier of lyrical birds",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Danriel Gabrunzio",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "with melodious magnolia",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "perfumes his mise-en-scène",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "where impotent neurotics",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "wince at the dusk",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The national arch-angel",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "loved",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "several countesses",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "in a bath full of tuberoses",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "soothed by the orchestra",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "at the “Hotel Majestic Palace”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": ". . . the sobbing",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "from the psycho-pathic wards",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "of his abandoned harem",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "purveys amusement for “High Life”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The comet conqueror",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "showers upon continental libraries",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "translated stars . . .",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "accusations of the alcove",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "where",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "with a pomaded complaisance",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "he trims rococo liaisons . . .",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": ". . . a tooth-tattoo of an Elvira",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "into a Maria’s flesh",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And every noon",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "bare virgins riding alabaster donkeys",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "receive Danriel Gabrunzio",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "from the Adriatic",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "in a golden bath-towel",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "signed with the zodiac",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "in pink chenille",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Defiance of old idolatries",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "inspires new schools",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": ". . . .",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Danriel Gabrunzio’s compatriots",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "concoct new courtships",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "to intrigue",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "the myriad-fleshed Mistress",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "of “the Celebrated”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The antique envious thunder",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "of Latin littérateurs",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "rivaling Gabrunzio’s satiety",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "burst in a manifesto",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "notifying women’s wombs",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "of Man’s immediate agamogenesis",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": ". . . Insurance",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "of his spiritual integrity",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "against the carnivorous courtesan",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": ". . . Manifesto",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "of the flabbergast movement",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "hurled by the leader Raminetti",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "to crash upon the audacious lightning",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "of Gabrunzio’s fashions in lechery",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": ". . . and wheedle its inevitable way",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "to the “excepted” woman’s heart",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "her cautious pride",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "extorting betrayal",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "of Woman wholesale",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "to warrant her surrender",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "with a sense of . . . Victory",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Raminetti",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "cracked the whip of the circus-master",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "astride a prismatic locomotive",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "ramping the tottering platform",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "of the Arts",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "of which this conjuring commercial traveller",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "imported some novelties from",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Paris in his pocket . . .",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "souvenirs for his disciples",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "to flaunt",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "at his dynamic carnival",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The erudite Bapini",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "experimenting",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "in auto-hypnotic God-head",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "on a mountain",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "rolls off as Raminetti’s plastic velocity",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "explodes his crust",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "of library dust",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "and hurrying threatening nakedness",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "to a vermilion ambush",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "in flabbergastism",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": ". . . he kisses Raminetti",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "full on his oratory",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "in the arena",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "rather fancying Himself",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "in the awesome proportions",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "of an eclectic mother-in-law",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "to a raw ménage.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Thus academically chaperoned",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "the flabbergasts",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "blaze from obscurity",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "to deny their creed in cosy corners",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "to every feminine opportunity",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "and Raminetti",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "anxious to get a move on this beating-Gabrunzio-business",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "possesses the women of two generations",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "except a few",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "who jump the train at the next station . . .",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": ". . . while the competitive Bapini",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "publishes a pretty comment",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "involving woman in the plumber’s art",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "and advertises",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "his ugliness as an excellent aphrodisiac",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Shall manoeuvres in the new manner",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "pass unremarked?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": ". . .",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "These amusing men",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "discover in their mail",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "duplicate petitions",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "to be the lurid mother of “their” flabbergast child",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "from Nima Lyo, alias Anim Yol, alias",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Imna Oly",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "(secret service buffoon to the Woman’s Cause)",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": ". . . .",
    "indent": 3
   },
   {
    "text": "While flabbergastism boils over",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "and Ram: and Bap:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "avoid each other’s sounds",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "This Duplex-Conquest",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "claims a “sort of success”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "for the Gabrunzio resisters.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Raminetti gets short sentences",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "for obstructing public thoroughfares",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Bapini is popular in Vanity Fair",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As for Imna Oly . . .",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I agree with Mrs. Krar Standing Hail",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "She is not quite a lady. . . .",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": ". . . . .",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Riding the sunset",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Danriel Gabrunzio",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "corrects",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "the lewd precocity",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "of Raminetti and Bapini",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "with his sonorous violation of Fiume",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "and drops his eye",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "into the fatal lap",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "of Italy.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}