The 106th Anniversary

...Of Ogden Nash's birth passed this week on August 19th. During his life he often said that, from the time he could form words, he always thought in rhymes. If alive today, I suspect that apart from enjoying late summer on the New Hampshire seacoast, he would delight at the longevity and applications of his legacy. This week's press clippings show that Nash continues to impact American cultural life:

Maureen Mullarkey of The New York Sun opens her article about the one-dimensional, negative philistinism of artist Tetsumi Kudo with a Nash quote. "Any kiddie in school can love like a fool, / But hating, my boy, is an art." Nash's popular and colorful verse has provided a generative spark for thousands of journalists as article openers.

Nash's "Don't try to rewrite what the moving finger has writ, and don't ever look over your shoulder." is the quote of the day for the UPI world almanac. I'm curious about the context and attribution...

London's Sunday Times puts pianist and versifier John Fuller in the same artistic sphere as Ogden Nash. Although Fuller seems more deranged than 'light' to me, who am I to argue with the Times' literary luminaries...

For anyone in Lynchburg, VA area next weekend the Nash infused children's staple 'Carnival of the Animals' will be performed at the Academy of Fine Art’s Joy and Lynch Christian Warehouse Theatre:

"At 3 p.m. that afternoon, a Concert for Children of All Ages begins.

The first part will feature Camille Saint-Saen’s “Carnival of the Animals,” with Ogden Nash’s poems about animals arranged for two pianos — with Romero and Nicholas Ross at the keyboards — and chamber orchestra. Lynchburg area musicians who will play are Jana Ross, Laura Webb, Amy Corbett, Ralph Jaxtheimer, Bob Bowen, Mariam d’Eustachio and John McClenon. James M. Elson will narrate."