Pompatus and Puppetutes
The Letter contains the lines: “Let me whisper/ sweet words of pizmotality/ and discuss the puppetutes of love.” Miller’s “epistemology … pompatus” sounds like a pretty clear echo of “pismotality … puppetutes.” Miller said that he thought of “pompatus” as sort of a professor or master of love, sex, and relationships.
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Then again, he also said, “it doesn’t mean anything; it’s just jive talk.” Vernon Green (of the Medallions), who wrote The Letter, heard The Joker for the first time when Jon Cryer (of Two and a Half Men) played it for him…