tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34625271431409477312024-03-13T05:23:39.267-07:00Blogden Nash<a href="http://www.ogdennash.org">Cataloging the global reach and influence of Ogden Nash on contemporary life.
The versifier's legacy continues to comfort, delight, challenge and inspire people all over the world.
</a>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05438508489768945951noreply@blogger.comBlogger158125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462527143140947731.post-80265994252800775582017-02-19T20:28:00.004-08:002022-04-01T10:33:01.853-07:00From Ogden Nash to an Admirer 61 Years Ago <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
The epitome of dry wit.</div>
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<br />Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05438508489768945951noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462527143140947731.post-27463658214611646652014-07-19T11:38:00.002-07:002022-04-02T04:35:45.786-07:00Ogden Nash Poem for Eugene McCarthy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YSV9qO41ABM/U8q4UKugyYI/AAAAAAAAB-w/hLwNEAFvCac/s1600/Women+For+McCarthy+Masthead+April+1968.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YSV9qO41ABM/U8q4UKugyYI/AAAAAAAAB-w/hLwNEAFvCac/s1600/Women+For+McCarthy+Masthead+April+1968.JPG" height="238" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><em>Rare find published in the Women for McCarthy newsletter</em>: </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><u>Senator McCarthy's birthday was March 29</u></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Happy Birthday, dear Eugene,<br />The first to give us a choice between. <br />Today in you we place our trust,<br />Not an alternative, but a must. <br />The kids are for you, glory be, <br />And so are wise old men like me.<br />How many statesmen of good intent <br />Would rather be right than president. <br />But I will gladly take my oath</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">That you're the man who can be both.<br />As your 52nd candle burns,<br />Many happy election returns!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Ogden Nash</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 78%;"><span class="style12">Copyright © by Linell Nash Smith and Isabel Nash Eberstadt.</span></span>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05438508489768945951noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462527143140947731.post-55595115415184521452012-11-04T16:21:00.004-08:002022-04-02T04:36:03.108-07:00Superstorm Sandy: Ogden Nash on the Rise of the Vandal<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Forty-eight years ago Ogden Nash protested how the Halloween tradition of clever 'trick or treat' pranks had regressed into blunt vandalism</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Those of us in the Northeast would gladly trade toilet papered trees and soaped profanities from past <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mischief_Night" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Mischief </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Nights</span></a> for the devastation caused by last week's superstorm Sandy. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">If Halloween ever had an innocence, in Nash's view it was rapidly disappearing by 1964. The pocket knife has morphed into a switchblade in the <span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">October Ladies Home Journal illustrations accompanying the poem.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Here are my favorite verses from </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><u>Halloween Hoodlums: Go Home:</u></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>There is one old hymn that now arouses my curiosity as well as my</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em> zest,</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>Which is the one that begins, "For all the saints who from their</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em> labors rest."</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>Heaven knows all the saints have earned a good rest after their </em></span><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> hardships on this </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">earthly scene,</span></em><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>But I wonder how much rest they actually get on the</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>Eve of All Saints' Day, generally known as Halloween.</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>Despite nostalgia that increases with age, I don't insist that new </em></span><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> ways are decadent and </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">only the old ways are fit to venerate,</span></em><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>But I do feel that the celebration of Halloween has tended to </em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>de</em></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>generate.</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>I can remember when children got an adequate thrill from ringing </em></span><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> doorbells and running away, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">or rigging ticktacks on the window, or even bobbing for apples,</span></em><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>While they now amuse themselves by upsetting gravestones and</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em> desecrating chapels.</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>I try to refrain from crabbedness and contentiousness and general</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em> fly-off-the-handleism,</em></span><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">But I find it difficult when the young have ceased to distinguish be</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">tween </span></em><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em> mischief and vandalism.</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>What has become of the old-fashioned urchin who terrified his cooperative </em></span><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> relatives with </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">the aid of an old sheet and a lighted </span></em><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em> pumpkin?</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>He has given way to a savage and malicious breed compounded of country slicker and city </em></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>bumpkin...</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>Then, of course, no Halloween would be complete without Trick</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em> or Treat.</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>This is a system of extortion that has grown even beyond the </em></span><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> in</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">credible and the preposterous.</span></em><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>It equals the Mafia in ruthlessness and arrogance, it is altogether</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em> Cosa Nosterous...</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>With such thoughts in mind I firmly expect that on some future All </em></span><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> Saints' Eve all the saints </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">will enjoy undisturbed rest from their </span></em><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em> labors,</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>And so, I selfishly add, will I and my neighbors.</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Copyright © by Linell Nash Smith and Isabel Nash Eberstadt. </span></div>
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Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05438508489768945951noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462527143140947731.post-55669902920069403492012-07-15T16:08:00.002-07:002022-04-02T04:36:55.974-07:00The Search for Ogden Nash’s Birthplace<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">While it’s true that Ogden Nash was born in Rye, NY, proof of exactly where in Rye has long been lost. Enter mystery novelist Alan Beechey. When Alan moved to Rye nearly a decade ago, he was pleased to learn that the poet was born there in 1902. However, he was soon in equal measure dismayed when he learned that there was nothing whatsoever within the Manhattan suburb honoring Nash. Not a tree to the man who so beautifully satirized Joyce Kilmer’s ’Trees’ in <a href="http://blog.ogdennash.org/2008/05/billboard-industry-lashes-back.html" target="_blank">‘Song of the Open Road.’</a> Not a dog run to the canophile who wrote dozens of <a href="http://www.ogdennash.org/poems/the_dog.htm" target="_blank">adoring verses</a> about man’s best friend. Not a playground to the grandfather who penned <a href="http://www.ogdennash.org/poems/reflection_on_babies.htm" target="_blank">‘Reflections on Babies’</a> and whose <a href="http://ogdennash.org/ogden_nash_poems.htm" target="_blank">animal verses</a> have delighted children worldwide for generations. Nary a street sign to the wry wit whose first home was in Rye, NY and his last in Rye Beach, NH. </span></o:p></span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />So Alan set his sights on finding where in town the great versifier was born as a proper place for a Nash memoriam. That’s where the road becomes full of twists and turns that Beechey’s craft had well trained him for. The poor handwriting and casual errors of census takers and registrars of births and deeds have foiled many a family roots hunter. Undeterred by such obstacles over a two year period, Beechey, with the support of the <a href="http://www.ryenhhistoricalsociety.org/" target="_blank">Rye Historical Society</a>, has assembled a plausible case for the exact places of Nash’s birth and childhood that forged his humorous literary symmetry. One of these places receives over a million passersby each week. <br />
<br />In its day Ramaqua, the estate of Ogden Nash’s father, was an Italianate showplace, designed in 1854 by the English architect Gervase Wheeler. In his book, "Homes for the People in Suburb and Country," Wheeler writes "The reader who may chance to have occasion to travel to or from New York by the New Haven railroad may at any time see this villa-mansion from such a point, as it stands upon an eminence that suddenly starts into view just after the train has passed the depot at Rye.” Records indicate that the Nash’s lived at Ramaqua shortly after the turn of the century.<br />
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Patriarch Edmund Nash was a turpentine baron whose business thrived with the US Navy’s need for varnishing their wooden hulled war ships – a franchise which eventually soured with the ascent of ships being launched with hulls of steel. In fact, had Ogden not been forced to leave Harvard because of the collapse of his father’s company, the delightfully roguish punster may have had the rhyme-ish adventurer formerly schooled out of him. As it was he returned to teach at<a href="http://www.stgeorges.edu/default.aspx" target="_blank"> St. George’s</a> on Aquidneck Island where he had spent his prep days. From that springboard he learned how to live by his wit and his pencil, including supporting a family, for the rest of his life.<br />
<br />Ramaqua survived until the 1950’s until it succumbed to what is now America’s legendary Route 95. Part of the promontory upon which Ramaqua rested is this rocky outcrop in the highway divider. <br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-n1_t--HdTbg/UANIfA5U7YI/AAAAAAAABXw/W4Ko6NlLqbk/s1600/Site+of+Ramaqua+today.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-n1_t--HdTbg/UANIfA5U7YI/AAAAAAAABXw/W4Ko6NlLqbk/s400/Site+of+Ramaqua+today.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Ogden was not born at Ramaqua. The mystery of where Matilde Nash gave birth to her first son might have been lost to history forever had Alan not asked Linell, Ogden’s daughter, a couple of years ago. Linell recalled her father’s cousin telling her that ‘Aunt Mattie’ went to the ‘Hicks place’ when her stork was due to arrive. With this anecdote in hand, Beechey found a corroborating entry in the August 1902 "Port Chester Journal" that "A baby boy was born to Mr. and Mrs. E. S. Nash, of the Hicks place. Unfortunately neither the town’s birth records nor the Episcopal churches baptism record details an address. <br />
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Alan located a sizeable estate on a 1900 map owned by ‘Hicks’. This was the home of Colonel William Hix, Thomas Edison's electrical contractor - the spelling was corrected on a subsequent map. One can imagine Nash and Hix, leading industrialists whose estates were both in Rye, being acquainted in social circles. What was the Hix estate and most likely Ogden Nash’s place of first breath in this world, is now a gaggle of more modern homes along Hix Avenue. <br />
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</a><br />If you want to see what’s left of Nash’s boyhood home, you’ll have to try to safely glance over where 287 meets 95 and give it a nod. If you want to visit the likely birthplace of the 20th century’s most popular poet, you can amble along the Hix Road that displaced the Hix mansion. Perhaps it was these two historical treasures being bulldozed that inspired Nash to quip in 1959: ”Progress might have been all right once, but it has gone on too long.”<br />
<br />In the course of his real life quest, Beechey has no doubt had to channel the hero of his first two novels, Oliver Swithin, a children's book author and amateur detective with a circle of peculiar friends. ( I suppose I’m one of the latter.) You can follow Beechey’s writing and his quest to correct Rye’s Nashional deficit at <a href="http://alanbeechey.blogspot.com/">http://alanbeechey.blogspot.com/</a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I had the pleasure of meeting Alan at the wonderful <a href="http://blog.ogdennash.org/2011/09/nash-ional-treasure-events-in-rye-ny.html" target="_blank">Nashional Treasure event</a> he organized at the <a href="http://ryeartscenter.org/" target="_blank">Rye Arts Center</a> last fall. A standing room only crowd was delighted by speakers and special guests including Linell Nash, Ogden's daughter and Francis Smith, Nash's grandaughter. The event was written up in the <a href="http://www.ryerecord.com/ae/rye-arts-center-honors-ogden-nash.html" target="_blank">Rye Record</a> and <span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">the <a href="http://myryesoundshore.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1904:residents-celebrate-the-works-of-ogden-nash-at-rye-arts-center&catid=34:news&Itemid=53" target="_blank">Sound Shore Review</a> .</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">As the 110th anniversary of Nash’s birth approaches on August 19th, it would be both comforting and poetic justice to hear that a memorial will someday be established for Nash in Rye.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05438508489768945951noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462527143140947731.post-37141309736931074692011-09-11T15:43:00.000-07:002011-09-11T17:05:51.357-07:00NASH-ional TREASURE Events in Rye, NY<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_jcNNlIjvlQ/Tm1KkLyptuI/AAAAAAAABJI/vGXZ33tuUA4/s1600/RAC%2BLOGO.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 220px; height: 213px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_jcNNlIjvlQ/Tm1KkLyptuI/AAAAAAAABJI/vGXZ33tuUA4/s400/RAC%2BLOGO.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5651255092920825570" border="0" /></a>Disappointed at the lack of recognition that Ogden Nash has been given by his home town, novelist and Rye resident <a href="http://alanbeechey.blogspot.com/">Alan Beechey</a> has led an effort to organize two wonderful events at the <a href="http://ryeartscenter.org/?s=ogden">Rye Arts Center</a>.<br /><br />On Saturday, September 17 from 10:00 – 12:00 pm there will be an <a href="http://ryeartscenter.org/?p=1156">Ogden Nash literary workshop</a> for ages 8 and older. Participants will explore the words and unique styling of former Rye resident, Ogden Nash, through a variety of projects that incorporate both the literary and visual arts. The first half of this class, attendees will work to create their own poems and verses in Nash’s style. For the second half, they will create an original art piece inspired by their creation. Artwork will be on display during the September Ogden Nash event the following Saturday.<br /><br />The cost is $30 for non-members. Space is limited. <a href="https://thriva.activenetwork.com/Reg4/%28S%28wn0dnk45hp4gd245wwr10y55%29%29/Form.aspx?regkey=RpYOYPxE378wNjTYCkFkMw%3d%3d&qid=4411">Register</a> at the Rye Arts Center website.<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-m6FUcfVbsaM/Tm1Kdv7TFTI/AAAAAAAABJA/_othCXj0y7k/s1600/Rye%2BArts%2BCenter.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-m6FUcfVbsaM/Tm1Kdv7TFTI/AAAAAAAABJA/_othCXj0y7k/s400/Rye%2BArts%2BCenter.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5651254982361683250" border="0" /></a>On Sunday, September 25th, there will be a celebration entitled <a href="http://ryeartscenter.org/?page_id=933">NASH-ional TREASURE</a> at the Rye Arts Center featuring selected readings of some of his most popular poems, along with performances of music from “One Touch of Venus, which Nash wrote. Artwork inspired by Ogden Nash’s poetry, and created by the students of The Rye Arts Center’s art school, will be hung on the walls of the Performing Arts room as an accompaniment to his literary masterpieces.<br /><br />Alan Beechey, is chairing the event. He will give a brief presentation on the history of Ogden Nash and the legacy that he has left for his hometown of Rye, NY.<br /><br /><a href="http://alanbeechey.blogspot.com/"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 153px; height: 220px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zoZ0bigVaVM/Tm1Gpk4xBxI/AAAAAAAABIo/wv9r89g0myc/s400/Alanwebphoto.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5651250787510191890" border="0" /></a>Kudos to Mr. Beechey for his efforts to raise awareness and appreciation to Rye’s accomplished native son. He is further advocating creating a permanent memorial to Nash by renaming one of the town’s blandly monikered common areas to Ogden Nash Park. He outlines the case well for doing so in an <a href="http://www.ryerecord.com/Rye%20Record%20Website%2002.25.11/Ryes%20Nashional%20Deficit.htm">OpEd</a> in the <a href="http://www.ryerecord.com/Rye%20Record%20Website%2002.25.11/Ryes%20Nashional%20Deficit.htm">Rye Record </a>and on <a href="http://www.myrye.com/my_weblog/2011/03/recognizing-ogden-nash-native-son-of-rye.html">MyRye.com</a>. It’s surprising that no place in the world, much less his birthplace, has yes to dedicate a patch of earth to this poet who has brought so much joy to the world. Nash appreciated the individual connections he created with his readers and took time to show his thanks to fan mail with notes like this to Mildred Davis in 1941, who apparently requested an autograph:<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tb7zeVSXWuY/Tm1JFG-8rUI/AAAAAAAABI4/-slmtK3r6ms/s1600/mildred%2Bdavis%2Bogden%2Bnash.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 247px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tb7zeVSXWuY/Tm1JFG-8rUI/AAAAAAAABI4/-slmtK3r6ms/s400/mildred%2Bdavis%2Bogden%2Bnash.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5651253459542650178" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />This short, silly poem will never appear in a Nash anthology. But you can bet it was treasured by the recipient. It is one of dozens of individual letters to fans that I’ve read where Nash went above and beyond to show his correspondent that he was grateful to them and to make them smile. What star today would take the time today to compose a custom bit of their craft for a fan?<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RXQvt8FsXhw/Tm1LnUXQVoI/AAAAAAAABJQ/MUDtw2TgRb4/s1600/ogdennash_window.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 220px; height: 165px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RXQvt8FsXhw/Tm1LnUXQVoI/AAAAAAAABJQ/MUDtw2TgRb4/s320/ogdennash_window.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5651256246273070722" border="0" /></a>Other than a street in California, the only memorial I’m aware of is the bottom right hand corner of a window in St. Andrews by the Sea in Rye Beach, NH.<br /><br />It so happens that a friend of mine was in that area last weekend visiting family. He visited Nash’s grave nearby in North Hampton and shared the snapshot below:<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8iBT0nPSy5U/Tm1HE33RBcI/AAAAAAAABIw/E86RYHjqwvY/s1600/Ogden%2BNAsh%2BHeadstone.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 299px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8iBT0nPSy5U/Tm1HE33RBcI/AAAAAAAABIw/E86RYHjqwvY/s400/Ogden%2BNAsh%2BHeadstone.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5651251256460641730" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Hope you can join the celebration on the 25th and add your voice to effort to rename the Rye park in honor of Ogden Nash!Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05438508489768945951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462527143140947731.post-40941921339726399042011-08-07T18:27:00.000-07:002011-08-08T05:56:53.234-07:00Immortalizing Heroes of the Gridiron and Diamond<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-daSSHovCG8c/Tj9NIv-WR0I/AAAAAAAABG4/TiAOiw2iyBM/s1600/ogden%2Bnash%2Bfootball%2Bcolts.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 82px; height: 126px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-daSSHovCG8c/Tj9NIv-WR0I/AAAAAAAABG4/TiAOiw2iyBM/s200/ogden%2Bnash%2Bfootball%2Bcolts.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5638310071203415874" border="0" /></a> Recognizing Nash's passion for his hometown NFL team, Life Magazine offered Nash the opportunity to showcase his poetry in 'My Colts - Verses and Reverses', their December 13, 1968 cover story.
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<br />Nash penned a poem about <a href="http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/ravens/bs-sp-bubba-smith-obituary-0704-20110803,0,1765965.story">Bubba Smith</a>, the 6' 7", 280 lb defensive end who passed away last week, ensuring that Smith's legacy will live on:
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<br />Bubba Smith</span>
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<br />When hearing tales of Bubba Smith<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qIEmXbKY1gs/Tj9QLZjhNkI/AAAAAAAABHA/QGx4ZCkwq8k/s1600/Ogden%2BNash%2Bcolts%2Bsmith.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 309px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qIEmXbKY1gs/Tj9QLZjhNkI/AAAAAAAABHA/QGx4ZCkwq8k/s400/Ogden%2BNash%2Bcolts%2Bsmith.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5638313415259797058" border="0" /></a>
<br />You wonder if he's man or myth.
<br />He's like a hoodoo, like a hex,
<br />He's like Tyrannosaurus Rex.
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<br />Few manage to topple in a tussle
<br />Three hundred pounds of hustle and muscle.
<br />He won't complain if double-teamed;
<br />It isn't Bubba who gets creamed.
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<br />What gained this pair of underminers?
<br />Only four Forty-niner shiners.
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<br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lfEB9dBpBKQ/Tj_MKRCTH_I/AAAAAAAABHg/IVyqv5xBb0U/s1600/12-13-68%2Blife%2Bcolts.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 106px; height: 142px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lfEB9dBpBKQ/Tj_MKRCTH_I/AAAAAAAABHg/IVyqv5xBb0U/s320/12-13-68%2Blife%2Bcolts.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5638449735234953202" border="0" /></a><a href="http://blog.ogdennash.org/2009/12/ogden-nash-on-baltimore-vs-green-bay.html">'Verses and Reverses'</a> was as much a tribute to the nation's adoration for Nash as it was to the Colts. How many contemporary poets have ever been featured on the cover of a popular national magazine?
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<br />Nash wrote several <a href="http://blog.ogdennash.org/2008/10/ogden-nash-took-his-baseball-seriously.html">poems about baseball</a> in his career. As the story goes, when the St. Louis Browns moved to Baltimore in 1953, the versifier composed this poem for a testimonial dinner:
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<br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dIRjFs1SgNU/Tj_c4Xk4sCI/AAAAAAAABH4/QFVLrrWfQeo/s1600/nash%2Bletter%2Bto%2Bgov.png"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 301px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dIRjFs1SgNU/Tj_c4Xk4sCI/AAAAAAAABH4/QFVLrrWfQeo/s400/nash%2Bletter%2Bto%2Bgov.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5638468119450660898" border="0" /></a>
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<br />You Can't Kill an Oriole
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<br />Wee Willie Keeler
<br /><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span>Runs through the town,
<br />All along Charles Street,
<br />In his nightgown.
<br />Belling like a hound dog,
<br />Gathering the pack:
<br />Hey, Wilbert Robinson,
<br />The Orioles are back!
<br />Hey, Hughie Jennings!
<br />Hey, John McGraw!
<br />I got fire in my eye
<br />And tobacco in my jaw!
<br />Hughie, hold my halo.
<br />I'm sick of being a saint:
<br />Got to teach youngsters
<br />To hit 'em where they ain't.
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<br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PQ6zdQ9k8WQ/Tj_UY1UKpKI/AAAAAAAABHo/zvtyeoBrVwM/s1600/nash%2Bletter%2Bto%2Bgov2.png"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 132px; height: 178px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PQ6zdQ9k8WQ/Tj_UY1UKpKI/AAAAAAAABHo/zvtyeoBrVwM/s200/nash%2Bletter%2Bto%2Bgov2.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5638458781584762018" border="0" /></a>
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<br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><span class="style12">Copyright © by Linell Nash Smith and Isabel Nash Eberstadt.</span></span>
<br />Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05438508489768945951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462527143140947731.post-43484084274479122772011-03-12T15:11:00.000-08:002012-07-26T14:43:52.841-07:00A Fine Synthetic Brogue<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yj3d2zQBUAo/TXv_lSQmjdI/AAAAAAAAA80/S7ZPgAfop-U/s1600/st%2Bpatrick.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5583337179077578194" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yj3d2zQBUAo/TXv_lSQmjdI/AAAAAAAAA80/S7ZPgAfop-U/s400/st%2Bpatrick.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 194px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 259px;" /></a>Well over a half century ago, Nash lamented how the St. Patrick' Day celebration, as was happening with <a href="http://blog.ogdennash.org/2010/12/ogden-nash-christmas.html">Christmas</a>, was overshadowing the higher meaning of the day.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">It’s a Grand Parade It Will Be, Modern Design</span><br />
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Saint Patrick was a proper man, a man to be admired;<br />
Of numbering his virtues I am never, never tired.<br />
A handsome man, a holy man, a man of mighty deeds,<br />
He walked the lanes of Erin, a-telling of his beads.<br />
A-telling of his beads, he was, and spreading of the word.<br />
I think that of Saint Patrick’s Day, Saint Patrick hadn't heard.<br />
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The saint was born a subject of the ancient British throne,<br />
But the Irish in their wisdom recognized him as their own.<br />
A raiding party captured him, and carried him away,<br />
And Patrick loved the Irish, and he lived to capture they,<br />
A-walking of the valleys and a-spreading of the word.<br />
I think that of Saint Patrick’s Day, Saint Patrick hadn't heard.<br />
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He defied the mighty Druids, he spoke them bold and plain,<br />
And he lit the Easter fire on the lofty hill of Shane.<br />
He lit the Easter fire where the hill and heaven met,<br />
And on every hill in Ireland the fire is burning yet.<br />
He lit the Easter fire, a-spreading of the word.<br />
I think that of Saint Patrick’s Day, Saint Patrick <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1"></span></span>hadn't heard.<br />
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Saint Patrick was a proper man before he was a saint,<br />
He was shaky in his Latin, his orthography was quaint,<br />
But he walked the length of Ireland, her mountains and her lakes,<br />
A-building of his churches and a-driving out the snakes,<br />
A-building of his churches and a-spreading of the word.<br />
I think that of Saint Patrick’s Day, Saint Patrick hadn't heard.<br />
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But the silver-tongued announcer is a coy, facetious rogue;<br />
He ushers in Saint Patrick with a fine synthetic brogue,<br />
He spatters his commercials with macushlas and colleens,<br />
Begorras, worra-worras, and spurious spalpeens.<br />
I hope one day Saint Patrick will lean down from Heaven’s arch<br />
And jam the bloody air waves on the Seventeenth of March.<br />
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<span style="font-style: italic;">Ogden Nash<br /></span><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_haAp-aswlU/TXv_2wPKOpI/AAAAAAAAA88/F2bNxBNRWc8/s1600/Statue-of-Saint-Patrick.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5583337479182367378" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_haAp-aswlU/TXv_2wPKOpI/AAAAAAAAA88/F2bNxBNRWc8/s400/Statue-of-Saint-Patrick.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 300px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
<span style="font-size: 78%;"><span class="style12">Copyright © by Linell Nash Smith and Isabel Nash Eberstadt.</span></span><br />
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Thanks to Kirsten Brady of MorristownJohnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05438508489768945951noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462527143140947731.post-79643376505426664412010-12-19T09:22:00.000-08:002010-12-28T11:56:19.892-08:00An Ogden Nash Christmas<div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />December 1st</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">I remember Yule </span><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">(:30 second preview)<br /></span><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRSjbeEzHRI/AAAAAAAAArU/NyNIcsZUpWQ/s1600/Ogden%2BNash-Christmas%2BWith-Smaller.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 155px; height: 155px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRSjbeEzHRI/AAAAAAAAArU/NyNIcsZUpWQ/s400/Ogden%2BNash-Christmas%2BWith-Smaller.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5554243932779650322" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><embed autostart="false" loop="false" playcount="2" src="http://www.ogdennash.org/audio/I_Remember_Yule_Preview.wav" width="250" height="50"></embed><br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">December 2nd<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Christmas Hash</span><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">(Excerpt)</span><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRSk5HKkdkI/AAAAAAAAArc/kp95p4GxQ-8/s1600/who%2Bhash.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 149px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRSk5HKkdkI/AAAAAAAAArc/kp95p4GxQ-8/s200/who%2Bhash.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5554245541537543746" border="0" /></a> </div><div style="text-align: left;">"Tiny reindeer hooves are drumming,<br />Listen, Santa Clause is coming!<br />See his tummy bulge and billow!<br />All her cotton, as she feared...<br /><br /><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">December 3rd<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Poem for the Children's Aid Society of Maryland<br /></span><span style="font-size:78%;">(1942)</span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRSmV6wSLcI/AAAAAAAAArs/9lVmwTktYNY/s1600/Ogden_Nash_sitting.png"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 127px; height: 181px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRSmV6wSLcI/AAAAAAAAArs/9lVmwTktYNY/s200/Ogden_Nash_sitting.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5554247135933902274" border="0" /></a>Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">But how about the children, have you taken thought of that?<br />What about the little boy that lives down the lane,<br />Ragged in the snowstorm, whistling in the rain?<br />What about the little girl the other side of town?<br />There's no one she can run to, and her world is falling down.<br />Dead father, drunken father, father gone away,<br />Sick mother, no mother, think of them today.<br />These are the lost ones, little ones alone.<br />These too are Maryland, these are our own.<br />Christmas is coming, and shall they be dismayed?<br />Send a Merry Christmas check to the Children's Aid.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">Nash was a former President and long time board member of the Children's Aid Society.</span><br /></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">December 4th</div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Nutcracker Suite</span><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">(:30 second preview) </span><br /></div><br /><embed autostart="false" loop="false" playcount="2" src="http://www.ogdennash.org/audio/Nutcracker_Suite_Preview.wav" width="250" height="50"></embed><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRSoHUnFaLI/AAAAAAAAAsE/Mo30sLO57oQ/s1600/IMG_6294.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 154px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRSoHUnFaLI/AAAAAAAAAsE/Mo30sLO57oQ/s200/IMG_6294.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5554249084199856306" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">December 5th</span><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Scrooge Rides Again<br /><span style="font-weight: normal;font-size:78%;" >(Excerpt)</span><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRSp74hbOkI/AAAAAAAAAsU/1SeVKviEwNs/s1600/scrooge_ogden_nash.png"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 131px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRSp74hbOkI/AAAAAAAAAsU/1SeVKviEwNs/s200/scrooge_ogden_nash.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5554251086704622146" border="0" /></a><br /></div>Backward, turn backward, O Time, you old ghoul,<br />Make me a child again just for one Yule;<br />Reverse, an if please you, the flow of the river,<br />Let me be a receiver instead of a giver;<br />Tuck me cozily into a wee trundle bed<br />As visions of sugarplums dance through my head,<br />Which would be a superior substitute for<br />The seasonal nightmare of yore and Dior.<br />Please provide for this Christmas alternative symbols<br />To replace Lord and Taylor, and Macy's and Gimbel's;<br /></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">December 6th<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Three Little Christmas Carols</span><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:78%;">(Excerpt from The New Yorker 12/22/34)</span><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRSq9bLZhDI/AAAAAAAAAsc/nKckZxrWH6Y/s1600/Three%2BLittle%2BChristmas%2BCarols%2Bheader.png"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 64px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRSq9bLZhDI/AAAAAAAAAsc/nKckZxrWH6Y/s200/Three%2BLittle%2BChristmas%2BCarols%2Bheader.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5554252212698973234" border="0" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">...And he never pinched any more pennies or skinned any more flints.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">So remember, everybody, that you will be gladder but wiser<br />If you stop being a miser,<br />And I hope none of us here will have to be haunted by ghosts to remind<br />us that Christmas is a specially nice time to be alive,<br />And I wish you all a very merry one, and a very happy 1935.<br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">December 7th<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">An Untold Adventure of Santa Claus</span><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">(:30 second preview)</span><br /></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRSs8b04YzI/AAAAAAAAAsk/R27jipIh_o0/s1600/untold_adventures.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 131px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRSs8b04YzI/AAAAAAAAAsk/R27jipIh_o0/s200/untold_adventures.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5554254394716349234" border="0" /></a></div><br /><embed autostart="false" loop="false" playcount="2" src="http://www.ogdennash.org/audio/An_Untold_Adventure_Of_Santa_Claus_Preview.wav" width="250" height="50"></embed><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">December 8th<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Miraculous Countdown</span><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">(Excerpt)</span><br /><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRYtq1lnpSI/AAAAAAAAAw8/1lfpUHA5uUs/s1600/earth.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRYtq1lnpSI/AAAAAAAAAw8/1lfpUHA5uUs/s200/earth.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5554677404370707746" border="0" /></a>Faustus shouted with joy hysterical,<br />And was then struck dumb as he watched a miracle.<br />He gazed aghast at his handiwork<br />As every experiment went berserk.<br />The bacteria, freed from their mother mold,<br />Settled down to cure the common cold.<br />Distant islanders sang Hosanna<br />As nuclear fall-out turned to manna.<br />Rockets, missiles and satellite<br />Formed a flaming legend across the night.<br />From Cape Canaveral clear to the Isthmus<br />The monsters spelled out Merry Christmas,<br />Penitent monsters whose fiery breath<br />Was rich with hope instead of death.<br />Faustus, the clumsiest of men,<br />Had butter-fingered a job again.<br />I've told you his head was far from level;<br />He thought he had sold his soul to the devil,<br />When he'd really sold it, for heaven's sake,<br />To his guardian angel by mistake.<br />When geniuses all in every nation<br />Hasten us towards obliteration,<br />Perhaps it will take the dolts and geese<br />To drag us backward into peace.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><div style="text-align: left;">December 9th<br /><div style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;">Christmas Card<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(1959)</span><br /></span></div></div><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"> <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRavCVnmR2I/AAAAAAAAAx0/j-qB0n5_O_8/s1600/ogdennash_wisher_card_r.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRavCVnmR2I/AAAAAAAAAx0/j-qB0n5_O_8/s400/ogdennash_wisher_card_r.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5554819645105915746" border="0" /></a></div><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">December 10th<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Abominable Snowman</span><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRTKat7VFQI/AAAAAAAAAtU/Rt1DYbbJmqc/s1600/abominable-snowman.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 172px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRTKat7VFQI/AAAAAAAAAtU/Rt1DYbbJmqc/s200/abominable-snowman.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5554286800808514818" border="0" /></a><br /><br />I’ve never seen an abominable snowman,<br />I’m hoping not to see one,<br />I’m also hoping, if I do,<br />That it will be a wee one.<br /></div><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">December 11th<br /><div style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;">I'm a Pleasure to Shop For<br /></div><div style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;font-size:78%;" >(:30 second preview)</span><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRTNkvQkdxI/AAAAAAAAAtk/3WsioNif0mE/s1600/ogden_nash_%2Blaugh.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 155px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRTNkvQkdxI/AAAAAAAAAtk/3WsioNif0mE/s200/ogden_nash_%2Blaugh.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5554290271499613970" border="0" /></a> </div><br /><embed autostart="false" loop="false" playcount="2" src="http://www.ogdennash.org/audio/Im_A_Pleasure_To_Shop_For_Preview.wav" width="250" height="50"></embed><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><br /><br />December 12th<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Poem for the Children's Aid Society of Maryland</span></span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span><span style="font-size:78%;">(1942)</span></span></span><br /></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRYTJPo7U3I/AAAAAAAAAv0/yMDYioN92_s/s1600/imagescas.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 195px; height: 259px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRYTJPo7U3I/AAAAAAAAAv0/yMDYioN92_s/s400/imagescas.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5554648239946027890" border="0" /></a>Tonight's December thirty-first<br /></div>Something is about to burst.<br />The clock is crouching, dark and small.<br />Like a time bomb in the wall.<br />Midnight whistles, loud and clear.<br />Duck! Here comes another year.<br /><br />P.S. It's not their fault, but just their luck,<br />Some children have no place to duck.<br />That is why this plea is made;<br />Remember, please, the Children's Aid.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">December 13th<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">December New England Coast</span><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">(Excerpt)<br /><br /></span></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRTMRy2LL7I/AAAAAAAAAtc/Sm6PkhUTBtM/s1600/6a00d83451db8d69e201053613ae77970b.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRTMRy2LL7I/AAAAAAAAAtc/Sm6PkhUTBtM/s200/6a00d83451db8d69e201053613ae77970b.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5554288846533504946" border="0" /></a>...Gloomy and damp the dark sky overhangs,<br />Mirrored below upon the shifting waves.<br />Rejoicing as they bare their whitecap fangs<br />Snapping at every lonely gull who braves<br />Their dripping jaws upon his wheeling course,<br />And shrieks disdainful at their measured force...<br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">Written as a student at St. Georges, Middletown, RI</span><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">December 14th<br /><div style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;">Carnival of the Animals<br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:78%;">(Excerpt)</span><br /></div><span style="font-size:78%;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRYL1B8yflI/AAAAAAAAAu8/K8ZO0n4OJQE/s1600/Ogden%2BNash%2BSigned%2BLP%2B1.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 198px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRYL1B8yflI/AAAAAAAAAu8/K8ZO0n4OJQE/s200/Ogden%2BNash%2BSigned%2BLP%2B1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5554640196092460626" border="0" /></a>INTRODUCTION<br /><br />Camille Saint-Saens<br />Was wracked with pains,<br />When people addressed him,<br />As Saint-Saens.<br />He held the human race to blame,<br />Because it could not pronounce his name,<br />So, he turned with metronome and fife,<br />To glorify other kinds of life,<br />Be quiet please - for here begins<br />His salute to feathers, fur and fins.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:78%;">'Carnival of the Animals' is a perennial choice for Christmas concerts. See an interactive exhibit of this work <a href="http://markeya.edu.glogster.com/carnival-of-the-animals/">here</a>.</span> </span><br /></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">December 15th<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Christmas That Almost Wasn't </span><br /></div><div style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;font-size:78%;" >(:30 second audio preview)</span><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRSwAuZ3YGI/AAAAAAAAAss/Sx8mYT6qXfw/s1600/christmas_almost_wasnt.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRSwAuZ3YGI/AAAAAAAAAss/Sx8mYT6qXfw/s200/christmas_almost_wasnt.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5554257766957670498" border="0" /></a></div><br /><embed autostart="false" loop="false" playcount="2" src="http://www.ogdennash.org/audio/The_Christmas_That_Almost_Wasnt_Preview.wav" width="250" height="50"></embed><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">December 16th</div><div style="text-align: left;"><h3 class="post-title entry-title"> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRTTXvKhgbI/AAAAAAAAAt8/93FRgZJlEkA/s1600/christmas%2Btruce.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRTTXvKhgbI/AAAAAAAAAt8/93FRgZJlEkA/s200/christmas%2Btruce.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5554296645205721522" border="0" /></a> </h3> <div class="post-header"> </div> "People can’t concentrate properly on blowing other people to pieces if their minds are poisoned by thoughts suitable to the twenty-fifth of December." <span style="font-size:85%;">~Ogden Nash</span><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">December 17th<br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;">The Unpublished Adventures of Santa Claus<br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(Page 1 of 14 page poem in Family Circle magazine.)</span></span><br /></div><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRauyhMgdXI/AAAAAAAAAxk/K3nVnoe7FMU/s1600/unpublished%2Badventures%2Bogden%2Bnash.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 293px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRauyhMgdXI/AAAAAAAAAxk/K3nVnoe7FMU/s400/unpublished%2Badventures%2Bogden%2Bnash.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5554819373335606642" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">December 18th<br /><div style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;">Christmas Glass<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRavM1Ux4kI/AAAAAAAAAx8/_gHjGLOAqog/s1600/ogden%2Bnash%2Bglass%2B001.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 271px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRavM1Ux4kI/AAAAAAAAAx8/_gHjGLOAqog/s400/ogden%2Bnash%2Bglass%2B001.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5554819825415610946" border="0" /></a><br /><br /></div></div>December 19th<br /><div style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;">Santa Go Home</div><span style="font-size:78%;">(Excerpt)</span><br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRafbMot0fI/AAAAAAAAAxc/uUrsE5Mf6ks/s1600/santa%2Bgo%2Bhome%2Binside.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 372px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRafbMot0fI/AAAAAAAAAxc/uUrsE5Mf6ks/s400/santa%2Bgo%2Bhome%2Binside.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5554802480005370354" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">December 20th<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Christmas Card</span><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(1959)</span></span><br /></div><br /></div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRau6z327NI/AAAAAAAAAxs/Z3VS0tFCPtc/s1600/ogdennash_mistletoe_card_r.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 289px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRau6z327NI/AAAAAAAAAxs/Z3VS0tFCPtc/s400/ogdennash_mistletoe_card_r.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5554819515788225746" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">December 21st<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">I'll eat my Split Level Turkey in the Breezeway</span><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">(Excerpt)</span><br /></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRTW4-N4tzI/AAAAAAAAAus/LVDXeklTLmU/s1600/nashanguscrop.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 188px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRTW4-N4tzI/AAAAAAAAAus/LVDXeklTLmU/s200/nashanguscrop.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5554300514716923698" border="0" /></a> A lady I know disapproves of the vulgarization of Christmas; she believes that Christmas should be governed purely by spiritual and romantic laws;<br />She says all she wants for Christmas is no more suggestive songs about Santa Claus.<br />Myself, I am more greedy if less cuddle-y.<br />And being of '02 vintage I am perforce greedy fuddy duddily,<br />So my own Christmas could be made glad<br />Less by the donation of anything new than just by the return of a few things I once had.<br /></div><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">December 22nd<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Boy who Laughed at Santa Claus </span> <span style="font-size:78%;">(:30 second preview)</span><br /></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRYaX7kMROI/AAAAAAAAAv8/jMZjox6uysM/s1600/laughed.gif"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 70px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRYaX7kMROI/AAAAAAAAAv8/jMZjox6uysM/s200/laughed.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5554656188836889826" border="0" /></a><br /><embed autostart="false" loop="false" playcount="2" src="http://www.ogdennash.org/audio/The_Boy_Who_Laughed_At_Santa_Claus_Preview.wav" width="250" height="50"></embed><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">Listen to a recent NPR story about this poem <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121690419">here</a></span><br /><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">December 23rd<br /><div style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;">All's Noel that Ends Noel<br />Or, Incompatibility is the Spice of Christmas<br /><span style="font-weight: normal;font-size:78%;" >(Excerpt from The New Yorker 12/14/57)</span><br /></div><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRTU6I_LaNI/AAAAAAAAAuM/okg3I_0Aqa8/s1600/New%2BYorker%2B121457%2BCover.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 148px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRTU6I_LaNI/AAAAAAAAAuM/okg3I_0Aqa8/s200/New%2BYorker%2B121457%2BCover.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5554298335764637906" border="0" /></a>Do you know Mrs. Millard Fillmore Revere?<br />On her calendar, Christmas comes three hundred and sixty-five times a year.<br />Consider Mrs. Revere's Christmas spirit; no one can match it -<br />No, not Tiny Tim or big Bob Cratchit.<br />Even on December 26th it reveals no rifts;<br />She is already compiling her lists of next year's gifts.<br /><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">December 24th<br /><div style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;">A Carol for Children<br /><span style="font-weight: normal;font-size:78%;" >(:30 second audio preview)</span><br /><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRYcvvX4inI/AAAAAAAAAws/pdKyQgitvdo/s1600/imagesrecord.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRYcvvX4inI/AAAAAAAAAws/pdKyQgitvdo/s200/imagesrecord.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5554658796904155762" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">First verses:</span><br /></div><br /><embed autostart="false" loop="false" playcount="2" src="http://www.ogdennash.org/audio/A_Carol_For_Children_Preview.wav" width="250" height="50"></embed><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">A Carol for Children<br /></span><span style="font-weight: normal;font-size:78%;" >(Excerpt)</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRawvnDwfTI/AAAAAAAAAyE/Sxflk4-dp78/s1600/nash%2Blife.jpeg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 154px; height: 200px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TRawvnDwfTI/AAAAAAAAAyE/Sxflk4-dp78/s200/nash%2Blife.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5554821522393169202" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Last Verse</span>s:<br /><br />Only the children clasp His hand;<br />His voice speaks low to them,<br />And still for them the shining band<br />Wings over Bethlehem.<br /><br />God rest you merry, Innocents,<br />While innocence endures,<br />A sweeter Christmas than we to ours<br />May you bequeath to yours.<br /><br />Christmas<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;">"Merry Christmas Nearly Everybody!" <span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">~ Ogden Nash</span></span><br /></div></div></div></div><span class="style12"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="style12"><span style="font-size:78%;">All Poems Copyright © by Linell Nash Smith and Isabel Nash Eberstadt</span></span><br /></div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05438508489768945951noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462527143140947731.post-13847779749695869412010-09-19T07:16:00.000-07:002010-10-26T19:15:47.007-07:00Celebrating With a Few Good WordsWhere does a poet go when they die? Do they write new verses in the clouds? Or do they just enjoy watching their old ones take flight?<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TJZnGimgwAI/AAAAAAAAAlg/2QBla1T7XfI/s1600/Ogden+Nash+national+gallery.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 125px; height: 200px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TJZnGimgwAI/AAAAAAAAAlg/2QBla1T7XfI/s200/Ogden+Nash+national+gallery.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5518711755454332930" border="0" /></a>For the last 39 years Ogden Nash has probably been doing both. On his birthday many took the time to remind Mr. Nash that they adore him. Introducing others to his poetic magic, some artistic souls celebrated the comedy, otherwise known as life, that was Nash's passion:<br /><br />The Smithsonian Institute's <a href="http://face2face.si.edu/my_weblog/2010/08/birthday-of-ogden-nash.html">National Portrait Gallery</a> blog shared a portrait of the poet and a review of his work by Warren <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TJZnovKu2fI/AAAAAAAAAlo/lUr6RlZdL8E/s1600/new-yorker-logo.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 104px; height: 160px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TJZnovKu2fI/AAAAAAAAAlo/lUr6RlZdL8E/s200/new-yorker-logo.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5518712342943029746" border="0" /></a>Perry. If your looking for a more expansive review check out <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/backissues/2010/05/eighty-five-from-the-archive-ogden-nash.html">Erin Overby</a> in the New Yorker.<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TJZmhOGHr4I/AAAAAAAAAlQ/agV0NqgEReM/s1600/cornelia2_sized.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 120px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TJZmhOGHr4I/AAAAAAAAAlQ/agV0NqgEReM/s200/cornelia2_sized.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5518711114294603650" border="0" /></a>Greenwich Village's <a href="http://www.corneliastreetcafe.com/">Cornelia Street Cafe </a>staged a <a href="http://www.corneliastreetcafe.com/downstairs/Performances.asp?sdate=8/30/2010&from_cal=0">collaborative musical performance</a> featuring several local artists. The Manhattan neighborhood was no doubt well known to Nash as the New Yorker's original offices were not far.<br /><br />The venerable North Hampton NH library created<a href="http://www.seacoastonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100824/NEWS/8240359&emailAFriend=1"> an exhibit</a> for their long time summer resident. Several residents stopped in to <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TJZmt-NrRqI/AAAAAAAAAlY/biIMP1vMxk0/s1600/NH+library+nash.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 182px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TJZmt-NrRqI/AAAAAAAAAlY/biIMP1vMxk0/s200/NH+library+nash.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5518711333369628322" border="0" /></a>see Nash family photos and recalled the wonderful parties at the Nash house.<br /><br />The Baltimore edition of <a href="http://baltimore.readinglocal.com/2010/08/19/happy-birthday-ogden-nash/">Reading Local</a> gave tribute to their home town poet with a snippet of his summer verse:<br /><br />From “Pretty Halcyon Days”:<br /><br />How pleasant to sit on the beach,<br />On the beach, on the sand, in the sun,<br />With ocean galore within reach,<br />And nothing at all to be done!<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TJZn4cPNd1I/AAAAAAAAAlw/MS-rzUB-ctU/s1600/ira+tucker+flower.png"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TJZn4cPNd1I/AAAAAAAAAlw/MS-rzUB-ctU/s200/ira+tucker+flower.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5518712612739446610" border="0" /></a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/itucker/4923353854/">Ira Tucker</a> remembered Nash's birthday by taking a picture of a North Carolina water lily and captioning it " He without benefit of scruples....His fun and money soon quadruples."<br /><br />Chicago mystery writer <a href="http://juliabuckley.blogspot.com/2010/08/had-i-but-knowns-of-ogden-nash.html">Julia Buckley</a> is especially fond of the 1940 poem "Don't Guess, Let Me Tell You" where Nash satirizes the crime novelists of the "Had I but Known School." She also notes "Nash was always playful, but sometimes in a pessimistic way; he started his poem "A Bas Ben Adhem" with<br /><br />"My fellow man I do not care for.<br />I often ask me, What's he there for?"<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TJZxdHtaBZI/AAAAAAAAAl4/jDCrhXLEYFA/s1600/Ogden+Nash+Shaw+Fest1.gif"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 128px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TJZxdHtaBZI/AAAAAAAAAl4/jDCrhXLEYFA/s200/Ogden+Nash+Shaw+Fest1.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5518723138488763794" border="0" /></a>Robert Merkin traveled from MA to Ontario to see <a href="http://www.shawfest.com/Home/Playbill/One-Touch-of-Venus/Story">"A Touch of Venus" at the Shaw Festival</a>. The show runs through October 10th. He shared these thoughts which seem to illustrate that Nash knew much about romance in the human race he continually lampooned:<br /><br /><div><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span></div> <div><span style="font-size:100%;">"It's a dirty, off-color, naughty little show -- Perelman wrote Marx Brothers' movies, and Broadway had no Hayes Office to censor or restrain him -- just one jalapeño after another, a string of cheap Macau firecrackers. The mechanics and equipment of actual human reproduction are often clearly referred to in Nash's lyrics and the dialogue. (The barber Venus falls in love with has a Murphy bed, and as it magically descends to the floor, she enthusiastically approves.)</span></div> <div><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span></div> <div><span style="font-size:100%;"><br />I can't describe the thrill of hearing "Speak Low" sung and harmonized, Venus and Brooklyn barber, in its intended setting and Weill's original orchestration. The orchestra gave it a driving bass vamp -- a bit of a tango beat -- which subsequent jazz covers ignore, but it works on the </span><span style="font-size:100%;">Broadway stage circa 1943.</span><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TJZyCzkgxQI/AAAAAAAAAmA/g_c8V215OMo/s1600/Ogden+Nash+Shaw+Fest2.gif"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 118px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TJZyCzkgxQI/AAAAAAAAAmA/g_c8V215OMo/s200/Ogden+Nash+Shaw+Fest2.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5518723785917777154" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></div> <div><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span></div> <div><span style="font-size:100%;">The whole thing is a French farce, with the wrong people ducking in and out of windows and </span><span style="font-size:100%;">closet doors and hiding under the Murphy bed -- well, it has the manic panic of a Marx Brothers movie, a pretty funny one at that. Much of its look and flavor and feel is from the same factory that cranked out "Guys and Dolls." The dances were by Agnes DeMille, straight from "Oklahoma!" -- so it's punctuated with Dream Dances to advance and illuminate the real-life narrative.<br /><br /></span></div> <div><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span></div> <div><span style="font-size:100%;">As you'd expect from re-animating a statue of Venus, the whole show is about Romantic Love, and it's wholeheartedly in favor of it, mess, pain, torment, grief and all.<br /><br /></span></div> <div><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span></div> <div><span style="font-size:100%;"><strong><em>Poor foolish heart<br />Crying for one who ignores you<br />Poor foolish heart<br /></em></strong></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><strong><em>Flying from one who adores you<br /><br /></em></strong></span></div> <div><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span></div> <div><span style="font-size:100%;">After the barber impulsively puts his fiancee's engagement ring on the statue's finger, and then rejects the goddess' advances, she laments to the audience<br /><br /></span></div> <div><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span></div> <div><span style="font-size:100%;"><strong><em>You see here before you</em></strong></span></div> <div><span style="font-size:100%;"><strong><em>a woman with a mission</em></strong></span></div> <div><span style="font-size:100%;"><strong><em>I must discover</em></strong></span></div> <div><span style="font-size:100%;"><strong><em>the key to his ignition</em></strong></span></div> <div><span style="font-size:100%;"><strong><em>and if he should make </em></strong></span></div> <div><span style="font-size:100%;"><strong><em>a diplomatic proposition</em></strong></span></div> <div><span style="font-size:100%;"><strong><em>how could I possibly refuse?</em></strong></span></div> <div><span style="font-size:100%;"><strong><em>when I'm a stranger here myself<br /><br /></em></strong></span></div> <div><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span></div> <div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TJZyeS8NL0I/AAAAAAAAAmI/qEflUwaBiAM/s1600/Ogden+Nash+Shaw+Fest3.gif"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 128px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TJZyeS8NL0I/AAAAAAAAAmI/qEflUwaBiAM/s200/Ogden+Nash+Shaw+Fest3.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5518724258195124034" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;">Well, look -- I just had the damnedest time. I've loved these songs for maybe a half-century, and I finally got to see them in their Delivery Room.<br /><br /></span></div> <div><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span></div> <div><span style="font-size:100%;">Of Nash -- well, you win, it's Genius by a Knockout, his poems are a perfect marriage of fun, jokes, puns, wit, syncopation -- and True Romance. You got to hum Weill's tunes as you leave the theater, and Nash's lyrics just make these exquisite, sometimes ethereal melodies burst into gorgeous, funny, beautiful flowers."<br /><br />On Nash's birthday lyrics burst into flowers and water lily's became verse.<br /><br /></span></div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05438508489768945951noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462527143140947731.post-35241287274298013322010-08-18T16:24:00.000-07:002010-08-19T04:07:03.033-07:00Ogden Nash on Parent - Kid Relations<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TGxrw9gEieI/AAAAAAAAAkg/WehPdS3Va6M/s1600/ogden+nash+leads.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 370px; height: 177px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TGxrw9gEieI/AAAAAAAAAkg/WehPdS3Va6M/s400/ogden+nash+leads.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5506894933254244834" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In honor of Ogden Nash's 108th birthaversary, here is the non-rhyming, yet very funny introduction to<span style="font-weight: bold;"> Parents Keep Out. </span>Subtitled 'Elderly Poems for Youngerly Readers. A 49 year old Nash writes how delighted he is to discover that kids can relate to his poems - the ones written about the foibles of the adult world. Nash muses that perhaps the way to bridge the great inter-generational communication divide is for parents to laugh at themselves in front of their children.<br /><br /><br /><i><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Helvetica','sans-serif';font-size:9.5pt;" ><o:p></o:p></span></i> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center; font-style: italic;"><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >FOREWORD</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >Since parents can't keep out of anything, I resignedly<o:p></o:p></span> </p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >address these words to them. Many parents will find that<o:p></o:p></span> </p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >they have read some of the verses in previous books </span><span style="color: rgb(154, 146, 138);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >of<o:p></o:p></span> </p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >mine. I shall not apologize. Anybody who has </span><span style="color: rgb(154, 146, 138);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >read </span><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >previous<o:p></o:p></span> </p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >books of mine is a trespasser in this one, which has been<o:p></o:p></span> </p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >compiled for a younger generation. I do not regard it </span><span style="color: rgb(154, 146, 138);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >as </span><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >a<o:p></o:p></span> </p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >children's book, however; I </span><span style="color: rgb(154, 146, 138);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >simply </span><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >hope it is a book that<o:p></o:p></span> </p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >anyone born less than fourteen or fifteen years ago may<o:p></o:p></span> </p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >enjoy. I have written a lot of verses about children, but<o:p></o:p></span> </p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >they are </span><span style="color: rgb(154, 146, 138);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >of </span><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >no interest to </span><span style="color: rgb(154, 146, 138);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >children, </span><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >as they </span><span style="color: rgb(154, 146, 138);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >were </span><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >written for<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >parents; on the other hand I have been pleased to </span><span style="color: rgb(154, 146, 138);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >dis</span><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >cover</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >that </span><span style="color: rgb(154, 146, 138);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >some </span><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >of the pieces dealing with the aberrations<o:p></o:p></span> </p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >and anomalies of the adult </span><span style="color: rgb(154, 146, 138);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >world </span><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >have found favor here<o:p></o:p></span> </p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(154, 146, 138);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >and </span><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >there among the kids</span><span style="color: rgb(110, 97, 88);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >. </span><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >This makes me </span><span style="color: rgb(154, 146, 138);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >very </span><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >proud;<o:p></o:p></span> </p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >indeed at such times I feel like the cryptographer </span><span style="color: rgb(154, 146, 138);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >who </span><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >has<o:p></o:p></span> </p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >cracked the code, or the first man to reach the moon, </span><span style="color: rgb(154, 146, 138);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(154, 146, 138);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >be</span><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >cause, in my experience, full </span><span style="color: rgb(154, 146, 138);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >communication </span><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >between the<o:p></o:p></span> </p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >generations </span><span style="color: rgb(154, 146, 138);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >simply </span><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >doesn't </span><span style="color: rgb(154, 146, 138);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >exist. </span><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >There is a curtain between<o:p></o:p></span> </p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >the mind of the child </span><span style="color: rgb(154, 146, 138);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >and </span><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >the mind </span><span style="color: rgb(154, 146, 138);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >of the </span><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >parent<o:p></o:p></span> </p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(154, 146, 138);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >as </span><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >opaque as any between the mind </span><span style="color: rgb(154, 146, 138);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >of </span><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >the Occidental </span><span style="color: rgb(154, 146, 138);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >and<o:p></o:p></span> </p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >the mind of the Russian or the Chinese. </span><span style="color: rgb(154, 146, 138);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >Words </span><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >may </span><span style="color: rgb(154, 146, 138);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >be<o:p></o:p></span> </p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >interchanged, but they do not mean the </span><span style="color: rgb(154, 146, 138);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >same thing </span><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >to </span><span style="color: rgb(154, 146, 138);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >one<o:p></o:p></span> </p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >as to the other; the language is purely diplomatic </span><span style="color: rgb(110, 97, 88);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >- </span><span style="color: rgb(154, 146, 138);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >or<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(154, 146, 138);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" > </span><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >undip</span><span style="color: rgb(110, 97, 88);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >l</span><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >omatic - and the final understanding<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >is about equal to that achieved by diplomats.<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >Of course it may </span><span style="color: rgb(154, 146, 138);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >be </span><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >that if </span><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >the kids do</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" > like any of these verses it </span><span style="color: rgb(154, 146, 138);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >is </span><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >for the </span><span style="color: rgb(154, 146, 138);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >very reason </span><span style="color: rgb(134, 124, 116);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >that<o:p></o:p></span> </p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(122, 111, 103);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >the Kremlin is gratified by any sign of the collapse of<o:p></o:p></span> </p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(122, 111, 103);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >capitalism; watchful young eyes may here perceive indications<o:p></o:p></span> </p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(122, 111, 103);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >of the breakup of the old people's world. Nevertheless</span><span style="color: rgb(146, 138, 131);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >,<o:p></o:p></span> </p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(122, 111, 103);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >flushed by a few minor successes among my juniors, I have<o:p></o:p></span> </p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(122, 111, 103);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >risked hastening the revolution by gathering for them from<o:p></o:p></span> </p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(122, 111, 103);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >my past this potpourri of fooli</span><span style="color: rgb(146, 138, 131);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >s</span><span style="color: rgb(122, 111, 103);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >h jokes, anecdotes</span><span style="color: rgb(146, 138, 131);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >, </span><span style="color: rgb(122, 111, 103);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >fables</span><span style="color: rgb(166, 159, 153);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >,<o:p></o:p></span> </p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(122, 111, 103);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >and other trivia, embelli</span><span style="color: rgb(146, 138, 131);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >s</span><span style="color: rgb(122, 111, 103);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >hed with rhymes and conclusions<o:p></o:p></span> </p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(122, 111, 103);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >both true and false. Perhaps for the very reason that this<o:p></o:p></span> </p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(122, 111, 103);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >particular collection is not calculat</span><span style="color: rgb(146, 138, 131);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >e</span><span style="color: rgb(122, 111, 103);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >d, dear parents who<o:p></o:p></span> </p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(122, 111, 103);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >have not kept out, to pre</span><span style="color: rgb(146, 138, 131);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >s</span><span style="color: rgb(122, 111, 103);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >ent us as the omniscient and<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(122, 111, 103);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >infallible paragons they think we think we are, it may<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(122, 111, 103);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >persuade our young to treat us more gently when they<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(122, 111, 103);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >tak</span><span style="color: rgb(122, 111, 103);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >e over. God willing, it may even persuade a<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(122, 111, 103);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >disreputabl</span><span style="color: rgb(122, 111, 103);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >e handful that they are as silly as we.<o:p></o:p></span> </p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(122, 111, 103);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:130%;" >O. N.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(122, 111, 103);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:12pt;" ><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><br /><span style="color: rgb(122, 111, 103);font-family:'Times','serif';font-size:12pt;" ></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><span class="style12">Copyright © by Linell Nash Smith and Isabel Nash Eberstadt. </span></span></p>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05438508489768945951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462527143140947731.post-53742749132034015362010-07-11T09:01:00.000-07:002010-07-11T19:08:18.857-07:00Pondering The Jellyfish<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TDnzKvfEGMI/AAAAAAAAAhI/AEKpWrXa7N0/s1600/jellyfish.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/TDnzKvfEGMI/AAAAAAAAAhI/AEKpWrXa7N0/s200/jellyfish.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5492688586426030274" border="0" /></a><br />My son just returned from surfing camp in Florida. He brought back stories of encounters with dolphins and Portuguese Man o' Wars. As well as a few garden variety jellyfish stings on his toes.<br /><br />I showed him and my other two little ones Nash's 'The Jellyfish' and asked them if they could memorize the seven word poem. Predictably my oldest finished first. However, their varied interpretations on the poem's meaning were unexpected.<br /><br /><a href="http://ogdennash.org/poems/the_jelllyfish.htm"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Jellyfish</span></a><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><br />Who wants my jellyfish?</span><span class="style14" style="font-family:georgia;"><br />I'm not sellyfish!</span><br /><br />I thought this was just a simple summer ode to a one dimensional creature. However, my 11 year old recited it back "I'm not shellyfish" A reading which surprisingly borders on making sense zoologically.<br /><br />My 7 year old interpreted 'sellyfish' as I did: a play on 'selfish'. As in: 'Out of altruism I bequeath you this stinging blob.'<br /><br />My wife perceived that Nash meant he would not venture to 'sell-yfish' his jellyfish for financial gain.<br /><br />While my four year maintained his silence with a far away gaze. Perhaps he was dreaming about peanut butter and jellyfish sandwiches.Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05438508489768945951noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462527143140947731.post-15453554923025623552010-04-16T17:08:00.000-07:002010-04-17T06:11:03.659-07:00Ogden Nash’s Tax Reform Proposal<div><div><div><div><div><div>"Solomon said, stay with me apples, for I am sick with l’amour,<br />But I say, Comfort me with flagons, for I am sick with rich people<br />talking and acting poor..."<br /><br />Thus opens <span style="font-weight: bold;">This One Is On Me</span>, Ogden Nash's proposal for leveling the economic playing field for the not-so-rich. Nash proposes that the affluent host parties for those who work and pay taxes but have been unable to accumulate wealth. This is only fair considering that the rich “haven’t paid income tax since 1929.”<br /><br />If you waited until yesterday's deadline to file your taxes, perhaps you did so because you owed money. You may take solace in the full poem from the <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/">New Yorker</a>:<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/S8j9F8zLzEI/AAAAAAAAAfs/bzHqWfEwVjY/s1600/blogden+-+This+one+is+on+me1.png"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 400px; float: left; height: 216px;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5460892826848709698" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/S8j9F8zLzEI/AAAAAAAAAfs/bzHqWfEwVjY/s400/blogden+-+This+one+is+on+me1.png" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/S8kWPUk7RGI/AAAAAAAAAf8/jzZA_SBI6ak/s1600/blogden+-+This+one+is+on+me2.png"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 400px; float: left; height: 164px;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5460920475640874082" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/S8kWPUk7RGI/AAAAAAAAAf8/jzZA_SBI6ak/s400/blogden+-+This+one+is+on+me2.png" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/S8kWU-sBfSI/AAAAAAAAAgE/uZiKoMNlElk/s1600/blogden+-+This+one+is+on+me3.png"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 400px; float: left; height: 177px;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5460920572844277026" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/S8kWU-sBfSI/AAAAAAAAAgE/uZiKoMNlElk/s400/blogden+-+This+one+is+on+me3.png" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/S8kWcp9iB0I/AAAAAAAAAgM/Nzp23OAHKE4/s1600/blogden+-+This+one+is+on+me4.png"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 400px; float: left; height: 113px;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5460920704719521602" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/S8kWcp9iB0I/AAAAAAAAAgM/Nzp23OAHKE4/s400/blogden+-+This+one+is+on+me4.png" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/S8kWjJVFOeI/AAAAAAAAAgU/LQIcq9KQltY/s1600/blogden+-+This+one+is+on+me5.png"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 400px; float: left; height: 225px;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5460920816219011554" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/S8kWjJVFOeI/AAAAAAAAAgU/LQIcq9KQltY/s400/blogden+-+This+one+is+on+me5.png" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05438508489768945951noreply@blogger.com44tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462527143140947731.post-44685355167478630462010-04-04T06:57:00.000-07:002010-04-05T07:50:56.120-07:00Ogden Nash from Mid-Century to Today<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/S7j4Ezvf5YI/AAAAAAAAAds/yJk_u0uJBno/s1600/ogden+nash+leads.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 96px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/S7j4Ezvf5YI/AAAAAAAAAds/yJk_u0uJBno/s200/ogden+nash+leads.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5456383710051952002" border="0" /></a>Are Ogden Nash's poems relevant in 2010?<br /><br />Half a century after Ogden Nash’s popularity has peaked it’s fair to ask if Nash’s work maintains any salience to a seemingly vastly transformed world. Nash's celebrity status, earned by the wit of his pen and years of often grueling lecture tours, fostered popularity for his works while he was alive. Recent artistic works and contemporary blogular discourse say a lot about the influence of his work today:<br /><br />“Does anyone read Ogden Nash any more?” When North-<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/S7j3BUsprEI/AAAAAAAAAdc/cA9srXGGnQk/s1600/homer+and+nash.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 165px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/S7j3BUsprEI/AAAAAAAAAdc/cA9srXGGnQk/s320/homer+and+nash.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5456382550667275330" border="0" /></a>port, MI <a href="http://www.dogearsbooks.net/">bookstore</a> owner <a href="http://booksinnorthport.blogspot.com/2010/03/thats-so-random-or-island-hopping.html">P.J. Grath</a> was asked this, she replied with arch dignity “Some of us grew up on Ogden Nash, and he is very important to us!” To understand her questioner’s indifference to F.O.N. she later posited that perhaps you had to discover Nash as a child to love his work as an adult. P.J. cites Nash’s “captivating, easily memorized little animal verses” such as the <a href="http://www.ogdennash.org/poems/the_pig.htm">The Pig</a> and <a href="http://www.ogdennash.org/poems/the_canary.htm">The Canary</a> as a reason to be a Nash admirer.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/S7j4qZtMDVI/AAAAAAAAAd0/RVRsfNUlzNA/s1600/poetry+speaks.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/S7j4qZtMDVI/AAAAAAAAAd0/RVRsfNUlzNA/s200/poetry+speaks.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5456384355897970002" border="0" /></a>In a recent <a href="http://languageisavirus.com/questions/poetry-speaks-to-children">review</a> of the 2002 ‘Poetry Speaks to Children’ the author claims that it’s the elements of rhyme, rhythm, fun and occasional mischief that makes poetry endearing to children. As Illustration of this we are given Nash's tale of the brave little Isabel, who “didn’t worry, didn’t scream or scurry” when confronted with a ravenous bear, a one-eyed giant or a troublesome doctor. Her clever solutions to problems (“She turned the witch into milk and drank her”)<br /><br />There's a certain plausibility to the importance of youthful exposure in order to build a life-long affection. On the other hand, in the 1920's and 30's not one of Nash's millions of fans had read him as a child. Can contemporary adults without previous contact find Nash interesting when reading him for the first time?<br /><br />Grown ups like <a href="http://www.nataliemerchant.com/">Natalie Merchant</a> and <a href="http://journal.neilgaiman.com/">Neil Gaiman</a> are quite fond of Nash. Gaiman is the <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/S7j52F2QjII/AAAAAAAAAd8/nr3P_e3gYL4/s1600/neil-gaiman_l.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/S7j52F2QjII/AAAAAAAAAd8/nr3P_e3gYL4/s200/neil-gaiman_l.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5456385656237362306" border="0" /></a>best-selling author of the ‘light horror’ book <a href="http://www.coraline.com/">‘Coraline’</a> which was later made into an ’09 award winning animated film. In a recent <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/03/08/sunday/main6278814.shtml">CBS TV interview</a>, he credits Nash for a profound influence on his writing:<br /><br />“What do you think your attraction to the dark side of things is?"<br /><br />"I think the thing that crystallized it for me, the moment that I actually understood it for myself, was a quote from Ogden Nash, the great American poet and humorist, where he said, 'Where there's a monster, there's a miracle…And I realized that, for me, is the joy of the monstrous. It's the joy of ghosts, fiction, joy of vampires. It's the miraculous."<br /><br />Musical artist Natalie Merchant will soon release "<a href="http://www.nataliemerchant.com/p/leave-your-sleep">Leave Your Sleep</a>" as her first studio music in 7 years. The two disc set adapts poetry from many 19th and 20th century poets such as Ogden <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/S7j6IzlPW9I/AAAAAAAAAeE/DTKzh7BMZmw/s1600/leave+your+sleep.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 150px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/S7j6IzlPW9I/AAAAAAAAAeE/DTKzh7BMZmw/s320/leave+your+sleep.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5456385977751657426" border="0" /></a>Nash and light verse pioneer <a href="http://blog.ogdennash.org/search?q=lear">Edward Lear</a> into song. The album includes an 80-page booklet featuring extensive liner notes by Merchant as well as the original poems.<br /><br />“Leave Your Sleep is the most elaborate project I have ever completed or even imagined. Nearly seven years ago I set out to create a piece of work I hoped could capture the universal experience of childhood through poetry and music. ”<br /><br />Delmar, CA author <a href="http://www.delmartimes.net/entertainment/266658-north-county-poets-will-gather-for-art-book-release">Robert Lundy</a>, transformed his therapeutic interest in Nash into a wellspring for a book and exhibit. Summation 2009-10: The Merging of Art and Poetry” is his book based on an exhibition installed at the Escondido Municipal Art Gallery last December. It contains reproductions of the work of 37 artists and the words of 20 poets.<br /><br />While enduring the death of his mother and his wife, Lundy rediscovered the therapeutic power of reading and writing poetry.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/S7j7Ft2SDVI/AAAAAAAAAeM/p1PhFEz6Gu4/s1600/Bob+Lundy+Photo.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 155px; height: 200px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/S7j7Ft2SDVI/AAAAAAAAAeM/p1PhFEz6Gu4/s200/Bob+Lundy+Photo.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5456387024184544594" border="0" /></a><br /><br />"I was looking for things to get involved in, and since I'd always liked poetry, I decided to form a poetry club with a friend of mine...I brought along Ogden Nash works and read him, then I started writing my own work." The library based club brought in a poetry director, Williams, to facilitate writing seminars with the group. Due to budget cuts, the library canceled the program after a year, but <a href="http://www.hitherandyahn.com/">Lundy and Williams</a> remained friends.<br /><br />"That's when I really started writing a lot of poetry," Lundy recalled. "Elizabeth would invite me for dinner and say, 'OK, no food until you have written a poem.' It was amazing the number of poems I wrote about food during that time."<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/S7j9Hk5zi0I/AAAAAAAAAeU/Xs-zxiaEA5w/s1600/sobieski3.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 125px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/S7j9Hk5zi0I/AAAAAAAAAeU/Xs-zxiaEA5w/s200/sobieski3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5456389255166397250" border="0" /></a><a href="http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/2010/03/professional-men.html">Baron Bodissey</a> generally designates Saturday as either his Ranting Day or Poetry Day, depending on his mood and the news of the week, in his blog <a href="http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/2010/03/professional-men.html">Gates of Vienna</a>. Having recently having “used up most of my supplies of rant" he decided to "feature light verse while I replenish my stores of invective.”<br /><br />Bodissey's difficultly in finding his favorite Nash poem, remembered from long ago, inspired him to embark on a quest because Nash’s “most famous examples were very brief eponymous vignettes about animals, but he wrote many other poems which never escaped into fame, and now reside only in dusty old volumes that can be quite difficult to find."<br /><br />"By the time the internet came along, his aficionados had become so few that many of his lesser-known poems are unavailable on the web. The oeuvre of Ludacris or the philosophical ramblings of Eminem are easy to locate in their entirety, but not the poems of Ogden Nash." But not Boddisey's favorite verse about lawyers.<br /><br />"I discovered this unfortunate fact last year when I went looking for two of my favorites. They <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/S7j__PwHmcI/AAAAAAAAAe0/uSHJ32rk_SE/s1600/red+lawyer+car2.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 194px; height: 172px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/S7j__PwHmcI/AAAAAAAAAe0/uSHJ32rk_SE/s320/red+lawyer+car2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5456392410584553922" border="0" /></a>are now obscure, and no amount of googling turned up complete and reliable versions. So I went off to the library the other day and borrowed Verses From 1929 On — which had probably lain untouched on the same shelf since the last time I needed it, fifteen or twenty years ago."<br /><br />"Finding the poems in question proved a formidable task. None of his books has an index of first lines, and any given title bears only the most tenuous of connections to the poem itself. I had to page through the table of contents four times before I finally found both poems I was looking for."<br /><br />"The poem below cried out to be posted quickly, because in a year or two — assuming the economic crisis follows its expected course — his stanzas will no longer be funny. By then they will be too true. Here is Ogden Nash ruminating about Professional Men.” He then posts the poem <a href="http://www.ogdennash.org/poems/I_Yield_To_My_Learned_Brother_or_Is_There_a_Candlestick_Maker_in_the_House.htm">I Yield to My Learned Brother or Is There a Candlestick Maker in the House?</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/S7j-EwyGjBI/AAAAAAAAAec/2H57rEZ37m8/s1600/tomato+shortage1.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 160px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/S7j-EwyGjBI/AAAAAAAAAec/2H57rEZ37m8/s200/tomato+shortage1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5456390306327333906" border="0" /></a>Have you been impacted by the looming tomato shortage? The India's <a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/editorial/Pulp-fiction/articleshow/5649796.cms">Economic Times</a> alludes to Nash’s ode to catsup as to how the cycle might play out:<br /><br />“ Thousands of miles away in the US there are burgers, bologneses (sic) and pizzas crying out for a slice of the action. Thanks to a chill in Florida, the supply of fresh tomatoes in the US has got so squished that fast-food chains and restaurants alike have started skimping on the tart vegetable and providing it only on order as prices have trebled. Matters have come to such a pass as 70% of the Florida tomato crop has failed, leaving producers $300 million in the red. Of course, this squeeze — the worst since 1989 — will not last long as harvests from other areas like Mexico and California will soon ketch-up. “ Shake and shake the ketchup bottle/First none will come and then a lot’ll ...?<br /><br />Can a bookseller, a reporter, a famous musician, a crusader lampooning injustice, a bestselling writer and a niche poet offer a barometer for the salience of Ogden Nash in the 21st Century?<br /><br />There's no doubt that Nash's poems resonate for many people. Some even celebrate his artistry by creating new works from his poetry. However, many more people have either never discovered his work or have and were unimpressed. Nevertheless, for over 40 years Ogden Nash attained a popularity that was unheard of for a poet in modern times.Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05438508489768945951noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462527143140947731.post-68460537514337208182010-02-12T07:15:00.000-08:002010-02-12T08:22:23.286-08:00Mr. Ballantine's Valentine by Ogden Nash<span style="font-weight: bold;">The Strange Case of Mr. Ballantine's Valentine</span><br /><div><strong></strong><br />Once upon a time there was an attorney named Mr. Ballantine.<br />He lived in the spacious gracious days of the nineteenth century.<br />Mr. Ballantine didn't know they were spacious and gracious.<br />He thought they were terrible.<br />The reason he thought they were terrible was that love had passed him by.<br />Mr. Ballantine had never received a valentine.<br />He said to his partner, My name is Mr. Ballantine and I have never received a valentine.<br />His partner said, Well my name is Mr. Bogardus and I have received plenty of valentines and I just as soon wouldn't.<br />He said Mr. Ballantine didn't know when he was well off.<br />Mr. Ballantine said, I know my heart, I know my mind, I know I long for a valentine.<br />He said here it was St. Valentine's day and when he sat down at his desk what did he find?<br />Valentines?<br />No.<br />I find affidavits, said Mr. Ballantine.<br />That's the kind of valentine I get, said Mr. Ballantine.<br />Mr. Bogardus said that affidavit was better than no bread.<br />Mr. Ballantine said that affidavit, affidavit, affidavit onward, into the valley of death rode the six hundred.<br />Mr. Bogardus said that any many who would rhyme "onward" with "six hundred" didn't deserve any affidavits at all.<br />Mr. Ballantine said coldly that he was an attorney, not a poet, and Mr. Bogardus had better take the matter up directly with Lord Tennyson.<br />Mr. Bogardus said Oh all right, and speaking of lords, he couldn't remember who was the king before David, but Solomon was the king affidavit.<br />Mr. Ballantine buried Mr. Bogardus in the cellar and went out in search of love.<br />Towards evening he encountered a maiden named Herculena, the Strongest Woman in the World.<br />He said, Madam my name is Mr. Ballantine and I have never received a valentine.<br />Herculena was delighted.<br />She said, My name is Herculena the Strongest Woman in the World, and I have never received a valentine either.<br />Mr. Ballantine and Herculena decided to be each other's valentine.<br />All was merry as a marriage bell.<br />Mr. Ballantine nearly burst with joy.<br />Herculena nearly burst with pride.<br />She flexed her biceps.<br />She asked Mr. Ballantine to pinch her muscle.<br />Mr. Ballantine recovered consciousness just in time to observe the vernal equinox.<br />He thought she said bustle.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><span class="style12">Copyright © by Linell Nash Smith and Isabel Nash Eberstadt.</span></span><br /><br />Published in 1938, <a href="http://www.perchedinthesearch.com/2010/02/be-mine.html">Samantha</a> posted this wonderful Nash verse on her blog, <a href="http://www.perchedinthesearch.com/">Perched in the Search</a> . She discovered the poem in "I'm a Stranger here Myself" which was cherished by her grandparents and handed down to her.<br /><br />I'm grateful to Renne for the suggestion to include it in my Og Blog. ( Nickname courtesy of Darryl Rehr)</div><br /><div>If you'd like to learn more about Ogden Nash's lifelong valentine read 'Loving Letters from Ogden Nash'.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/S3V_TrOf62I/AAAAAAAAAdM/3Wmp0IZ4FgA/s1600-h/Loving+Letters+from+Ogden+Nash.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 197px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/S3V_TrOf62I/AAAAAAAAAdM/3Wmp0IZ4FgA/s200/Loving+Letters+from+Ogden+Nash.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5437392101117520738" border="0" /></a><br /></div><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/S3V-JgHid-I/AAAAAAAAAdE/Wevjo6P4VIU/s1600-h/Loving+Letters+from+Ogden+Nash.jpg"></a> </div><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/S3V-JgHid-I/AAAAAAAAAdE/Wevjo6P4VIU/s1600-h/Loving+Letters+from+Ogden+Nash.jpg"></a> </div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05438508489768945951noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462527143140947731.post-42707337309200936102009-12-07T08:15:00.000-08:002009-12-08T09:17:32.790-08:00Ogden Nash on Baltimore vs. Green Bay<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Sx3Vao_8nmI/AAAAAAAAAZA/H6IONvLRgAg/s1600-h/ogden+nash+colts+cover.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 221px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Sx3Vao_8nmI/AAAAAAAAAZA/H6IONvLRgAg/s320/ogden+nash+colts+cover.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5412716980828151394" border="0" /></a>Tonight's NFL Ravens-Packer match-up reminds <a href="http://www.ravens24x7.com/column_view.php?cid=47&id=4078&view=archive">Rick Johnson</a> of when the Baltimore Colts forced a play-off game with archrival Green Bay 44 years ago. The play of the Colt's third string quarterback later inspired Ogden Nash to versify:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Is there a Baltimore fan alive<br />who's forgotten Tom Matte in '65?<br />The Colts by crippling injuries vexed,<br />Unitas first and Cuozzo next--<br />What would become of the pass attack?<br />Then Matte stepped in at quarterback.<br />He beat the Rams in a great display,<br />He did - and he damn near beat Green Bay.<br />Ask him today to plunge or block,<br />Tom's the man who can roll or rock.<br />In Tokyo, they say karate<br />In Baltimore, they call it Matte<br /></div><br />This was a stanza in a wonderful feature that Nash did for Life Magazine on his beloved Baltimore Colts in 1968. While reminiscent of Nash honoring baseball's all-time greats in <a href="http://www.dingedcorners.com/2009/06/lineup-for-yesterday-by-ogden-nash.html">'Lineup for Yesterday'</a> , it's Colt-centricity makes it very unique. What other team can boast having a ballad written about them by America's Poet Laureate? The photo-journalistic-poetic pages:(Click the photo to enlarge for easier reading)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Sx3V7cofuCI/AAAAAAAAAZI/JwjhzqyIHEA/s1600-h/ogden+nash+colts+1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 295px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Sx3V7cofuCI/AAAAAAAAAZI/JwjhzqyIHEA/s400/ogden+nash+colts+1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5412717544444246050" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Sx3WETxjgdI/AAAAAAAAAZQ/EBN4rPKJ5_o/s1600-h/ogden+nash+colts+2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 265px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Sx3WETxjgdI/AAAAAAAAAZQ/EBN4rPKJ5_o/s400/ogden+nash+colts+2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5412717696685146578" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Sx3WMZomBrI/AAAAAAAAAZY/95czJW2A85c/s1600-h/ogden+nash+colts+3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 338px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Sx3WMZomBrI/AAAAAAAAAZY/95czJW2A85c/s400/ogden+nash+colts+3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5412717835697129138" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Sx3WTYcwcgI/AAAAAAAAAZg/6HIoJIXQbzc/s1600-h/ogden+nash+colts+4.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 316px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Sx3WTYcwcgI/AAAAAAAAAZg/6HIoJIXQbzc/s400/ogden+nash+colts+4.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5412717955638129154" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Sx3Wd2eUdoI/AAAAAAAAAZo/5WpJ-DS8R3g/s1600-h/ogden+nash+colts+5.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Sx3Wd2eUdoI/AAAAAAAAAZo/5WpJ-DS8R3g/s400/ogden+nash+colts+5.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5412718135496439426" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Sx3XPCSOvKI/AAAAAAAAAZw/ZN29vJgIh-c/s1600-h/ogden+nash+colts+6.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 257px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Sx3XPCSOvKI/AAAAAAAAAZw/ZN29vJgIh-c/s400/ogden+nash+colts+6.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5412718980480548002" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Sx3XZxbsivI/AAAAAAAAAZ4/D0QHYpqeqC8/s1600-h/ogden+nash+colts+7.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 251px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Sx3XZxbsivI/AAAAAAAAAZ4/D0QHYpqeqC8/s400/ogden+nash+colts+7.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5412719164935408370" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Sx3XgUtcyYI/AAAAAAAAAaA/OxQZ7Ff8634/s1600-h/ogden+nash+colts+8.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 252px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Sx3XgUtcyYI/AAAAAAAAAaA/OxQZ7Ff8634/s400/ogden+nash+colts+8.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5412719277484329346" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Sx3XmutPBVI/AAAAAAAAAaI/PtmDaIRdVa4/s1600-h/ogden+nash+colts+9.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 207px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Sx3XmutPBVI/AAAAAAAAAaI/PtmDaIRdVa4/s400/ogden+nash+colts+9.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5412719387541964114" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Sx3Xsmbs3OI/AAAAAAAAAaQ/lQQ36TLE1aE/s1600-h/ogden+nash+colts+10.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 261px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Sx3Xsmbs3OI/AAAAAAAAAaQ/lQQ36TLE1aE/s400/ogden+nash+colts+10.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5412719488400153826" border="0" /></a><br />The above courtesy of <a href="http://books.google.com/books?q=magazine_serial:uVYEAAAAMBAJ&rview=1&rview=1&source=gbs_navlinks_s">Google Books</a>.<br /><br />Back to Rick Johnson's memories of the December, 1965 Packers- Colts game, he writes:<br /><br />Baltimore vs. Green Bay is etched in the lore of the football gods. And no, I’m not talking about the standout performance from this past Monday Night. Stay with me for awhile. The following will bring back to life, if only for a few moments, a Baltimore football classic from a different day, a different genre.<br /><br />Imagine a NFL team going into a playoff game without a passing attack. Imagine a defensive coordinator who must only plan against a third-string quarterback (who really plays halfback) who doesn’t know the plays, and places his team at a disadvantage the moment he attempts a forward pass. The adversary calls it lady luck. The professional calls it an opportunity.<br /><br />Minus their first and second string quarterbacks, Johnny Unitas and Gary Cuozzo, the 1965 Baltimore Colts forced a playoff game with their arch-rival Green Bay Packers to determine the Western Division champion, by defeating the Los Angeles Rams in their final regular season game. The Packers, who tied San Francisco in their regular season finale, thus forcing the playoff game, won Commissioner Pete Rozelle’s coin toss to host the game at Lambeau Field.<br /><br />You can read the entire post <a href="http://www.ravens24x7.com/column_view.php?cid=47&id=4078&view=archive">here</a>.Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05438508489768945951noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462527143140947731.post-43659028036162645692009-11-01T11:41:00.000-08:002009-11-02T08:55:14.188-08:00A Prayer for Charitable Giving by Ogden Nash<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://standrews-by-the-sea.org/history.html"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 220px; height: 165px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Su3mvfQDSlI/AAAAAAAAAY4/VgG8j-rFEBU/s320/ogdennash.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399225231804156498" border="0" /></a><br /><br />A good friend just gave me a history of of <a href="http://standrews-by-the-sea.org/history.html">St. Andrews by the Sea</a> in Rye Beach, NH. It contains an O.N. poem when he was a member of the Parish Committee, that no doubt engendered smiles and donations.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Saint Andrew was a fisher<br />In the Galilean Sea<br />He left his nets upon the shore<br />When his Lord said "Follow Me."<br /><br />Saint Andrew went rejoicing<br />He served without regrets<br />But in his namesake parish<br />We sorely need his nets<br /><br />All you who know Saint Andrew's<br />Now let your hearts be roused<br />The Church must be in order set<br />The Clergy must be housed<br /><br />The parish we loved in summer<br />In winter we forget<br />And therefor with this message<br />Is cast Saint Andrew's net<br /><br />The yearly cost grows greater<br />The yearly yield is small<br />Oh Lord who blessed Saint Andrew<br />Send us one shining haul.<br /><br />1965Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05438508489768945951noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462527143140947731.post-75665175235443222682009-10-11T09:03:00.000-07:002009-10-11T20:34:02.243-07:00Ogden Nash Anecdotes and Unpublished Poems<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/StKcLx5hm8I/AAAAAAAAAYg/kL9WKK1TCWI/s1600-h/Ogden+Nash+talking+to+groom+to+be+John+Marshall+Smith.jpeg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 303px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/StKcLx5hm8I/AAAAAAAAAYg/kL9WKK1TCWI/s400/Ogden+Nash+talking+to+groom+to+be+John+Marshall+Smith.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391543430103014338" border="0" /></a>Do you have an Ogden Nash anecdote or unpublished Nash verse? The North Hampton Public Library is collecting stories about the versifier and his private poems for an upcoming exhibit. Susan Grant, the library's director, would welcome hearing what you have to share. Please call her at 603-964-6326 or send an <a href="http://www.blogger.com/nhpl@nhplib.org">e-mail</a>.<br /><br />Here are two recently submitted unpublished poems that Nash wrote for a Little Boars Head couple's anniversary and first grandchild:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Vernacular Lines For a Spectacular Occasion: A Belated Anniversicle</span><br /><br />Let’s rise to toast divine Rebecca,<br />Matt’s own Episcopalian Mecca.<br />Small wonder, since at college, I’ll wager<br />She was a Matthewmatics major.<br />From top to toe, from lip to leg,<br />The Rector’s coddled like an egg;<br />Indeed at many a schoolboy session<br />He’s known as Mrs. Warren’s Profession.<br />This eulogy’s for his loving bride;<br />He gets to go just for the ride.<br /><br />Many happy Matt’s Becky!<br />Ogden<br />June 12, 1965<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/StKd-ZByVwI/AAAAAAAAAYw/YlSsMJord0s/s1600-h/Personal+Poem.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 301px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/StKd-ZByVwI/AAAAAAAAAYw/YlSsMJord0s/s400/Personal+Poem.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5391545399111735042" border="0" /></a>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05438508489768945951noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462527143140947731.post-31887296943084443802009-10-03T07:07:00.000-07:002009-10-05T09:58:38.449-07:00Summering with Nash<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/SsfFx8bHG-I/AAAAAAAAAWo/Zn_C1RR6cFU/s1600-h/oprah-reading.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 290px; height: 218px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/SsfFx8bHG-I/AAAAAAAAAWo/Zn_C1RR6cFU/s320/oprah-reading.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5388492940996189154" border="0" /></a>With the leaves poised to turn, it's time to review Nashian notes from the summer of '09:<br /><br />The "Pocket Book of Ogden Nash" was on Oprah's <a href="http://www.examiner.com/x-562-Book-Examiner%7Ey2009m6d23-Oprahs-recommended-summer-reading-list-vsThe-Book-Examiners-recommended-summer-reading-list">Summer Reading Lis</a>t. While "The Best of Ogden Nash " was recommended by <a href="http://media.www.lavozdeanza.com/media/storage/paper911/news/2009/06/22/Editorial/The-Editorial.Board.Recommends-3747871.shtml">La Voz</a>, The Voice of De Anza College in Cupertino as " the most intentionally funny poetry you'll read all year."<br /><br />Over the 4th of July weekend <a href="http://wino-sapien.blogspot.com/2009/07/isabel-sauvignon-blanc-2008.html">Wino Sapien</a> recommended Isabel Sauvignon blanc 2008 to combat the confluence of Swine flu, children, work and wine. In the "Adventures of Isabel", Nash's daughter and poetic heroine " met a troublesome doctor...who really shocked her... yet <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/SsfGoy6j6DI/AAAAAAAAAW4/tTKWQcm7GlI/s1600-h/isable1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/SsfGoy6j6DI/AAAAAAAAAW4/tTKWQcm7GlI/s320/isable1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5388493883336550450" border="0" /></a>ultimately Isabel took the pills from the concoctor and cured the doctor. Here's the full stanza on the alternative remedy:<br /><br />He punched and he poked till he really shocked her.<br />The doctor's talk was of coughs and chills<br />And the doctor's satchel bulged with pills.<br />The doctor said unto Isabel,<br />Swallow this, it will make you well.<br />Isabel, Isabel, didn't worry,<br />Isabel didn't scream or scurry.<br />She took those pills from the pill concoctor,<br />And Isabel calmly cured the doctor.<br /><br />Feeling better and shifting into cocktail hour, <a href="http://fictionfood.wordpress.com/2009/06/10/ogden-nash-cocktails/">Readable Watchable Edible Potable</a> a blog about<br />Food and Drink in Books and Film, presented a collection of Ogden Nash's " witty observations on sundry liqueurs" including these excerpts:<br /><br />Mint Julep:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/SsfIYEo6XmI/AAAAAAAAAXA/og2Tq4aZDVM/s1600-h/mint_julep.png"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 157px; height: 200px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/SsfIYEo6XmI/AAAAAAAAAXA/og2Tq4aZDVM/s200/mint_julep.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5388495795059842658" border="0" /></a>There is something about a mint julep.<br />It is nectar imbibed in a dream,<br />As fresh as the bud of the tulip,<br />As cool as the bed of the stream...<br /><br />Highball:<br /><br />There is something they put in a highball<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/SsfJD19lC5I/AAAAAAAAAXI/DyzK67xSXOs/s1600-h/highball.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 180px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/SsfJD19lC5I/AAAAAAAAAXI/DyzK67xSXOs/s200/highball.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5388496547034237842" border="0" /></a><br />That awakens the torpidest brain,<br />That kindles a spark in the eyeball,<br />Gliding, singing through vein after vein...<br /><br />The Old-Fashioned:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/SsfJuYFDHTI/AAAAAAAAAXQ/3W5bkaVN4Po/s1600-h/old-fashioned-cocktail-full.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/SsfJuYFDHTI/AAAAAAAAAXQ/3W5bkaVN4Po/s200/old-fashioned-cocktail-full.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5388497277746879794" border="0" /></a>There is something about an old-fashioned<br />That kindles a cardiac glow;<br />It is soothing and soft and impassioned<br />As a lyric by Swinburne or Poe...<br /><br />Full poems <a href="http://fictionfood.wordpress.com/2009/06/10/ogden-nash-cocktails/">here.</a><br /><br />One's passion for drink can sometimes runneth over as when <a href="http://dorothyparker.com/">Dorothy Parker wrote</a>: "I'd Rather Have a Bottle in Front of Me Than a Frontal Lobotomy", a verse sometimes credited to Nash. However, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kiri-fuda/3685727957/">Kari-Fuda</a> on <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kiri-fuda/3685727957/">Flickr</a> is not so inebriated as to attribute it properly.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/SsdocRI-9xI/AAAAAAAAAV4/8AuIvc7vPkY/s1600-h/custardthedragon.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 250px; height: 228px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/SsdocRI-9xI/AAAAAAAAAV4/8AuIvc7vPkY/s320/custardthedragon.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5388390314018797330" border="0" /></a><br />On a more wholesome note, <a href="http://168hrs.blogspot.com/2009/07/tale-of-custard-dragon-by-ogden-nash.html">Nicole</a> from Sydney was inspired to post <a href="http://168hrs.blogspot.com/2009/07/tale-of-custard-dragon-by-ogden-nash.html">Custard the Dragon</a> for poetry month. Nicole then learned that it is also realio, trulio required reading for one of her younger readers during dessert.<br /><br />Pun Intended: In their blog on travel tips <a href="http://www.silverlight-travel.com/limerick/index.php/2009/07/ogden-nash-the-pun-dit/">Limerick</a><a href="http://www.silverlight-travel.com/limerick/index.php/2009/07/ogden-nash-the-pun-dit/"> Travel</a> posted that "for every problem – adult or child, dental or mental, domesticated or wildlife, there is a Nash-ty solution."<br /><br />Austin TX grad student <span style="text-decoration: underline;">'</span><a href="http://metallic-rhapsody.blogspot.com/2009/06/torn.html">Metal'</a> used to devour Nash's books back in high school. He rediscovered Nash over the summer, finding Ogden Nash to be "the literary equivalent of having roasted peanuts between sips of beer" and " slices of humor between chunks of heavy reading" Metal is truly a voracious reader who may need a sandwich soon.<br /><br />For the starving fiancee, looking for a distinctive summer wedding <a href="http://creditcrunchbride.wordpress.com/2009/06/27/alternative-wedding-readings-no-corinthians-promise/">Credit Crunch Bride</a> recommended Ogden Nash's 'My Dream' as an alternative wedding reading to "1 Corinthians Chapter 13 and other patronizing lectures on how to have a good marriage, that don’t mention that sickening word ‘joy’ too much."<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Ssd1B87xKEI/AAAAAAAAAWI/rGOV05gDsZo/s1600-h/bridal-fashion-for-grooms-trends-suspenders-outdoor-wedding-groomsmen-in-khakis-suspenders-white-shirt-casual.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 211px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Ssd1B87xKEI/AAAAAAAAAWI/rGOV05gDsZo/s320/bridal-fashion-for-grooms-trends-suspenders-outdoor-wedding-groomsmen-in-khakis-suspenders-white-shirt-casual.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5388404155569219650" border="0" /></a><br /><br />This is my dream,<br />It is my own dream,<br />I dreamt it.<br />I dreamt that my hair was kempt.<br />Then I dreamt that my true love unkempt it.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/SsfLXqtOTHI/AAAAAAAAAXg/8hPDmNrBlB4/s1600-h/spl22492_025.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 138px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/SsfLXqtOTHI/AAAAAAAAAXg/8hPDmNrBlB4/s200/spl22492_025.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5388499086633487474" border="0" /></a><br /><br />First Comes Marriage: Iron Chef <a href="http://www.celebritybabyscoop.com/2009/07/23/cat-cora-welcomes-baby-boy-nash">Cat Cora</a> gave birth to her 4th child with her wife Jennifer. <a href="http://www.celebritybabyscoop.com/2009/07/23/cat-cora-welcomes-baby-boy-nash">CelebrityBabyScoop.com</a> reports that Nash Cora is named for Ogden Nash and Nobel mathematician <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Forbes_Nash">John Forbes Nash</a>, (A Beautiful Mind). Sources confirm that he is specifically not named after jazz drummer <a href="http://lewisnash.com/index2.html">Lewis Nash</a>, NBA All-Star <a href="http://www.steve-nash.net/highlights.html">Steve Nash</a> or CSNY legend <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham_Nash">Graham Nash</a>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/SsfMenQkjMI/AAAAAAAAAXo/wreVsU4wfGY/s1600-h/times-of-india-2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 47px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/SsfMenQkjMI/AAAAAAAAAXo/wreVsU4wfGY/s320/times-of-india-2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5388500305478716610" border="0" /></a><br />Indian Summer Theater: The <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Ahmedabad/Dasturs-play-has-audience-in-splits/articleshow/4713583.cms">India Times</a> reports that the play "When God Said Cheers" featuring a divine entity who quotes Ogden Nash, has been performed over 200 times in 7 years to appreciative Ahmedabadians. The 'cool' God takes "occasional sips from a pint of beer and nibbling on peanuts, has some very interesting things to say to the common man."<br /><br />The versifier's works tend to be popular in the former english speaking dominions of PAX Brittanica.<br /><br />Kentucky artist Ed Franklin launched his "<a href="http://www.kentucky.com/712/story/836205.html">A Doll A Day in June</a>" adventure with a Nashian <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/SsfgqIv4TXI/AAAAAAAAAX4/sM8DaBtk1oA/s1600-h/1ghdvs.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/SsfgqIv4TXI/AAAAAAAAAX4/sM8DaBtk1oA/s200/1ghdvs.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5388522493679521138" border="0" /></a> twist. Franklin posted the clue "811.52 N175b 2007 online. Sarabeth Brownrobie was the first to figure out that the caption was a Dewey Decimal System number. Franklin's doll was at the Lexington Public Library downtown — perched on a shelf in front of the book The Best of Ogden Nash.<br /><br />During June graduation season in Jacksonville, Nash visited <a href="http://jacksonville.com/interact/blog/scarlet/2009-06-12/scarlets_reflections_-_graduation_diplomas_and_dreams">Scarlet</a> at her old high school and gave her " A Word to Husbands" before her spouse turned on the light and told her to<a href="http://jacksonville.com/interact/blog/scarlet/2009-06-12/scarlets_reflections_-_graduation_diplomas_and_dreams"> wake up</a>.<br /><a href="http://www.dingedcorners.com/2009/06/lineup-for-yesterday-by-ogden-nash.html"><br /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Ssfg-H-NCkI/AAAAAAAAAYA/3n4pIEYrOcM/s1600-h/lfy+cobb.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 149px; height: 200px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Ssfg-H-NCkI/AAAAAAAAAYA/3n4pIEYrOcM/s200/lfy+cobb.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5388522837068548674" border="0" /></a><a href="http://www.dingedcorners.com/2009/06/lineup-for-yesterday-by-ogden-nash.html">Dinged Corners</a> recreated "Lineup for Yesterday" with vintage images of Nash's baseball heroes.<br />'C' is for Cobb,<br />who grew spikes and not corn,<br />And made all the basemen<br />Wish they weren't born<br /><br />From Ty to the Fly: A <a href="http://overgoodground.blogspot.com/2009/06/why-fly.html">grandmother living in the Sierra Nevada's </a>was being pestered by this winged devil until she smiled and remembered the first poem she ever learned was about this summer resident: "God in his wisdom made the fly / And then forgot to tell us why."<br /><br />Machiavelli's Vacation Reading: <a href="http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/07/can_the_schadenfreude_gop.html">American Thinker</a> felt the anti-Democratic extremism of the summer was " ugly and unbecoming". He urged restraint, citing Nash as parable:<br /><br />Pray, butcher, spare yon tender calf!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/SsfkC6vnmuI/AAAAAAAAAYI/QcGtlOnjII8/s1600-h/Machiavelli2702fwl.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 154px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/SsfkC6vnmuI/AAAAAAAAAYI/QcGtlOnjII8/s200/Machiavelli2702fwl.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5388526217951943394" border="0" /></a><br />Accept my plea on his behalf;<br />He's but a babe, too young by far<br />To perish in the abattoir.<br />Oh, cruel butcher, let him feed<br />And gambol on the verdant mead;<br />Let clovertops and grassy banks<br />Fill out those childish ribs and flanks.<br />Then may we, at some future meal,<br />Pitch into beef, instead of veal.<br /><br />For the record, Ogden Nash was a non-partisan political lampooner, who preferred to surgically take aim at unjust and hypocritical acts rather than take broadsides at Democrats or Republicans.<em><strong><br /></strong></em>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05438508489768945951noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462527143140947731.post-19651999201564796222009-08-31T05:07:00.000-07:002009-09-22T16:30:05.969-07:00Celebrating Nash's Legacy in North Hampton<div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/SpvZoxVy9TI/AAAAAAAAAVg/eV8oenecegU/s1600-h/P8200038.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376129874659570994" style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left; width: 200px; height: 150px;" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/SpvZoxVy9TI/AAAAAAAAAVg/eV8oenecegU/s200/P8200038.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/SpvZDr4DklI/AAAAAAAAAVY/p4ss5wQSMpA/s1600-h/P8200038.JPG"></a></div><div></div><div>Ogden Nash was recently featured in two special events in New Hampshire.<br /></div><br /><div>The tribute began with an early evening tour of Nash's former seaside estate, courtesy of owners Bob & Sherry Lauter. The house is beautifully situated on a rise overlooking the Atlantic and the rock dotted beach. According to his grandaughter Frances, Nash swam there daily from Memorial Day to Labor Day, irrespective of the cold temperatures.<br /><br />As we walked through the house Bob related the Nash lore he's received from friends and Nash's family since they purchased the home a few years ago. Much of the character and features of the 1870's of mansard roofed house has been preserved. Although it's far from a stuffy Victorian. The front rooms have fantastic views. The second floor has 11 foot ceilings and wide plank floors. While the red Formica counter tops are gone, the original kitchen cabinets are still there and one can easily envision Nash looking for more barbecue sauce or a midnight snack.</div><br /><div> </div><br /><div></div><br /><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/SpvaMFyvATI/AAAAAAAAAVo/4izH-1TY6Ck/s1600-h/P8200043.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376130481445077298" style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left; width: 200px; height: 150px;" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/SpvaMFyvATI/AAAAAAAAAVo/4izH-1TY6Ck/s200/P8200043.JPG" border="0" /></a>The next event was " Home is Heaven: 32 Poems by Ogden Nash<span style="font-style: italic;">...an original staging of Nash poems which celebrate his family and their summers by the seashore</span>", staged by M. Marguerite Mathews and Gregory Gathers of the <a href="http://www.pontine.org/">Pontine Theatre</a> Company.<br /><br />The production animating Nash's poems about family life at the seashore made for superb synergy after the tour of his home. The day's events were the work of Susan Grant, Director of <a href="http://www.nhplib.org/">North Hampton's library</a>. Susan and her staff and volunteers did an amazing job bringing everything together. </div><br /><br /><div></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376131266092783906" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; width: 411px; height: 354px; text-align: center;" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Spva5w1U2SI/AAAAAAAAAVw/qxDxIxEOsEw/s400/ogden_nash_program.gif" border="0" /><br /><br /><div>The <a href="http://www.pontine.org/">Pontine</a> players were brilliant in 'duet' form - reciting 'Apartment to Sublet'. 'Custard' and 'Tin Wedding Whistle' in the most endearing ways that brought out nuances of the poem that go unnoticed when reading it in a solo voice.<br /><br /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/tD9z4nsdsBw&hl=" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" fs="1&rel=" color1="0x006699&color2=" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="425" height="344"></embed>The play was received warmly by the audience. Many stayed long afterwards to chat with Marguerite and Greg and listen to their stories of producing the play and staging it all over NH. 'Home is Heaven' has been performed previously at Pontine Theatre - here is a detailed<a href="http://www.wirenh.com/Stage/Stage_-_general/%91Home_is_Heaven%3A_32_Poems_by_Ogden_Nash%92_200802072746.html"> review</a> by <a href="http://www.wirenh.com/Stage/Stage_-_general/%91Home_is_Heaven%3A_32_Poems_by_Ogden_Nash%92_200802072746.html">WireNH</a>.<br /><br />The evening was also the start of an effort to gather more Ogden Nash anecdotes from his North Hampton friends to include in a touring exhibit of his works. If you have any Nash stories to share, please send them to <a href="mailto:nhpl@nhplib.org">Susan Grant</a> or post them here and I'll pass them on.<br /></div><br /><br /></div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05438508489768945951noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462527143140947731.post-5730030047813476252009-08-17T13:14:00.000-07:002009-08-18T10:07:36.958-07:00Ogden Nash Day in Little Boar's Head, NH<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Som-vHgKL0I/AAAAAAAAAVI/bazrBjGTY70/s1600-h/homeimage05.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 184px; height: 135px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Som-vHgKL0I/AAAAAAAAAVI/bazrBjGTY70/s320/homeimage05.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371033747293089602" border="0" /></a><br /><p class="articleGraf">On August 20th the town of <a href="http://www.northhampton-nh.gov/Public_Documents/index">North Hampton, NH</a> is celebrating the anniversary of the poet's birth with two special events.<br /></p><p class="articleGraf">The <a href="http://www.pontine.org/">Pontine Theatre</a> group will stage a production of "Home is Heaven: POEMS BY OGDEN NASH" at 7 p.m. at North Hampton School, 201 Atlantic Ave. Pontine's co-artistic directors Marguerite Mathews and Greg Gathers will bring Nash's poems on family and summer to life with toy theater figures and puppets.<br /></p><p class="articleGraf">Prior to the production here will be a tour of Ogden Nash's former seaside home from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., compliments of Bob and Sherry Lauter, the current owners. For more information contact the <a href="http://www.nhplib.org/">North Hampton Public Library</a> at 603-964-6326.<br /></p><p class="articleGraf">Nash was born on August 19, 1902.<br /></p>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05438508489768945951noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462527143140947731.post-53618214200087697242009-06-21T10:39:00.000-07:002009-08-01T06:25:23.188-07:00Visualizing Ogden Nash's PoemsFrom <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.flickr.com">Flickr </a>:<br /><br />A Texas student's reflection...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/30185406@N04/2850680507/in/set-72157607249024708/"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 278px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Sj_6pfv_W-I/AAAAAAAAAQU/GDDccVrDQpE/s400/ogden+nash+bygone+days.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350270473143802850" border="0" /></a><br />Hanging at The Bronx Zoo...<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/44124427152@N01/4729123"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Sj_66hJGZ1I/AAAAAAAAAQ8/vAxe1INcv8M/s400/panther+anther+ogden+nash.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350270765575333714" border="0" /></a><br />Reminder on the workbench...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Sj_6qEkPeOI/AAAAAAAAAQs/EiyvXqAAg3M/s1600-h/ogden+nash+clever+dumb.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Sj_6qEkPeOI/AAAAAAAAAQs/EiyvXqAAg3M/s400/ogden+nash+clever+dumb.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350270483026639074" border="0" /></a><br />Xbox commentary...<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/30185406@N04/2850686471"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Sj_6p1Va3eI/AAAAAAAAAQk/MHjyQpb8-48/s400/ogden+nash+agility.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350270478937939426" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Poor Mrs. Twist...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/farstarr/3439047627/in/set-72157604476495821/"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 262px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Sj_6o3tlAtI/AAAAAAAAAQM/LMVcOCjHd2M/s400/crocodile+ogden+nash.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350270462396269266" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Sj6Xo5Kg12I/AAAAAAAAAQE/HMsYCYW-vjc/s1600-h/crocodile+ogden+nash.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 1px; height: 1px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Sj6Xo5Kg12I/AAAAAAAAAQE/HMsYCYW-vjc/s400/crocodile+ogden+nash.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349880136158205794" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Sj6XO60B49I/AAAAAAAAAP8/20EEwgdOkSw/s1600-h/ogden+nash+wedding+3.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 1px; height: 1px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Sj6XO60B49I/AAAAAAAAAP8/20EEwgdOkSw/s400/ogden+nash+wedding+3.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349879689924174802" border="0" /></a>A refreshing interpretation of Nash's most quoted poem ...<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/27192542@N00/1332481670"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 297px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Sj6XOYSw2bI/AAAAAAAAAPs/bRYpm19Nors/s400/ogden+nash+candy+2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349879680657840562" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Shameless commerce in the Netherlands...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/77057341@N00/2185610084"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 298px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/SkA5uTALKmI/AAAAAAAAARc/Q-uzzJLTnqY/s400/ogden+nash+candy+dandy+3.GIF" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350339824853920354" border="0" /></a><br />A maxim to wear...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Sj6XOcG9IrI/AAAAAAAAAPk/LVCotFyRNcA/s1600-h/crocodile+ogden+nash.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 1px; height: 1px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Sj6XOcG9IrI/AAAAAAAAAPk/LVCotFyRNcA/s400/crocodile+ogden+nash.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349879681682055858" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/11878641@N00/224731664"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Sj6XN9CO4lI/AAAAAAAAAPc/yQohvxivdDg/s400/224731664_f2a5548736.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349879673340748370" border="0" /></a><br />They are writing about Llama's in public restrooms in Toronto...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/68373439@N00/2439595015"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 264px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/SkA5uJsQmNI/AAAAAAAAARU/7FH5i4n8XHk/s400/l+llama.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350339822354471122" border="0" /></a><br /><br />A wedding program reminding the groom to employ silence at strategic intervals...<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2141/1511265365_7ca85c9baa.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/SkA_uxfMVOI/AAAAAAAAARk/SssE49O-hwY/s400/brimming.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350346430106850530" border="0" /></a><br />A Norway artist knew what the caption should be the instant she saw the photo....<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/26431451@N00/2280289304"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 369px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/SkA_9pJmIgI/AAAAAAAAARs/CgNyKDe0-D0/s400/speak+low.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5350346685566820866" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />All photos © by their respective owners. Click photo for more information.Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05438508489768945951noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462527143140947731.post-61247533881614521282009-06-09T17:27:00.000-07:002009-07-03T12:33:56.767-07:00Ogden Nash's Poem to Dorothy Parker<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/SjI0_MPQx5I/AAAAAAAAAOs/QigRof5wN2g/s1600-h/Dorothy_Parker_+to_+Ogden_Nash.png"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 231px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/SjI0_MPQx5I/AAAAAAAAAOs/QigRof5wN2g/s320/Dorothy_Parker_+to_+Ogden_Nash.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346393967863842706" border="0" /></a> Ogden Nash's "Candy is..."and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Parker">Dorothy Parker's</a> "Men seldom make passes..." are occasionaly attributed to the other in error. Perhaps the confusion is understandable given the many similarities between the Gotham based purveyors of witty and provocative verse.<br /><br />As luminaries in the Manhattan literary world their lives would often intertwine. In one unlikely episode the junior Nash served as the editor of the eminent Ms. Parker's work at the New Yorker for a brief spell in 1931. Although Nash's most urgent mission was often trying to find Parker in New York's speakeasies and entering an 11th hour plea to complete her column before Friday's deadline.<br /><br />Parker was known to have a rapier wit which she often used to shred sub-par works. However, Parker may have espied something of herself in Nash's early work. In what would be the first of many written and personal exchanges between the two, Parker sent him a rhyme of praise in the fall of 1930. Lamenting that while she used to 'dabble for a living in rhyme', she had since become derailed as a poet by "Racquet club members, players on two pianos, raconteurs and homosectuals." She wished Nash success in life and literature and wanted him to know that she was a "respectful admirer."<br /><br />In Nash's reply you can sense the joy and awe he must have felt shortly after he opened the envelope with the Swiss postmark. While the twenty eight year old Nash's star was beginning to rise, as his poems were being published with increasing frequency, receiving a personal note from a member of the Algonquin roundtable was a whole other level of recognition.<br /><br />Nash responded with an enthusiastic poem of his own. He later shared the exchange with his editor. The correspondence, dispensed from Simon & Shuster's 'Inner Sanctum' appeared in newspaper ads promoting the debut of Hard Lines, Nash's first collection. While Parker's letter to Nash has been published several times, I did not know of Nash's reply until Kevin Fitzgerald, President of the <a href="http://www.dorothyparker.com/">Dorothy Parker Society</a> recently shared it with me.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/SjI5odu_e0I/AAAAAAAAAPU/f18ph62ejIg/s1600-h/Ogden_Nash_to_Dorothy_Parker2.png"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 227px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/SjI5odu_e0I/AAAAAAAAAPU/f18ph62ejIg/s400/Ogden_Nash_to_Dorothy_Parker2.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346399074981477186" border="0" /></a>Nash's reply to Parker brims with joy:<br /><br />"I was more intoxicated by your enconium<br />Than at a beautiful chord played by a maestro on<br />an expensive harmonium<br />I would far rather have your laud<br />Than half interest in the business of Henry Faud"<br /><br />Nash's speaking voice reflected his upbringing in 'society'. is phonetic treatment of lord and Ford as 'laud' and 'Faud', was probably close to Nash's actual <a href="http://www.ubu.com/sound/nash.html">pronunciation</a>.<br /><br />'Big Blonde' refers to Parker's highly acclaimed short story of 1929.<br /><br />The Dorothy Parker Society stages <a href="http://dorothyparker.com/parkerfest/index.html">Parkerfest</a> every spring: A spirited celebration of the author's life and works.Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05438508489768945951noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462527143140947731.post-1028579407567168192009-05-14T10:35:00.000-07:002009-05-15T07:32:37.658-07:00Ogden Nash's Advice to the Graduating Class<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_umFS7apw9TM/SgxWjzDlZyI/AAAAAAAAAOc/eXPF8hSKu7o/s1600-h/Ogden_Nash_+Graduation.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 216px; height: 320px;" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_umFS7apw9TM/SgxWjzDlZyI/AAAAAAAAAOc/eXPF8hSKu7o/s320/Ogden_Nash_+Graduation.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335734831527847714" border="0" /></a><br />In the midst of preparation for this weekend's ceremonies, it's a good time to revisit Ogden Nash's address to his granddaughter Nell and her classmates at the Miss Porter's School commencement in 1970. <br /><br />One can imagine a great deal of anticipation and speculation among the audience as to what the notable poet would say that May afternoon in CT. Would he quote wisdom from his works? Prepare a new poem for the occasion? Or perhaps talk about how he felt after his own graduation from St. Georges?<br /><br />Nash chose to share something more valuable to the young women off to college in the fall. He advocated for that they employ a sense of humor when addressing the inevitable challenges that lied ahead. He made a vigorous case for humor being "hope's companion in arms."<br /><br />That Nash should find humor therapeutic and important is not surprising. Here was a man who wrote humor reflexively: As gifts to friends or simply to cheer himself up during an ordeal. As when he penned a verse to vent over his car being burglarized in Boston. Nash used light verse to stun, and suspend in a freeze frame, the abrasive elements of the world so he could lampoon and deflate them.<br /><br />Here is an excerpt of Nash's graduation address, where he encourages the student's to view humor as their most valuable tool:<br /><br /><span>"It is not brash, it is not cheap, it is not heartless, Among other things I think humor is a shield, a weapon, a survival kit, </span><br /><br /><span>Not only has this brief span of ours been threatened by such perils not of our own making such as fire and flood, Tyrannosaurus Rex, the black death, and hurricanes named after chorus girls, but we have been most ingenious in devising means for destroying each other, a habit we haven't yet learned how to kick. So here we are, several billion of us, crowded into our global concentration camp for the duration, How are we to survive? Solemnity is not the answer, any more than witless and irresponsible frivolity is. I think our best chance lies in humor, which in this case means a wry acceptance of our predicament. We don't have to like it but we can at least recognize its ridiculous aspects, one of which is ourselves."</span><br /><br />Not solemnity nor frivolity, but humor tempered with a wry acceptance of our predicament and a recognition that we are often a ridiculous race: A distinctive message for graduation day.Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05438508489768945951noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462527143140947731.post-34204980292090419522009-03-17T07:16:00.000-07:002009-04-01T13:10:55.167-07:00Brother, Can You Spare a Laugh?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Sb-x0iMg7LI/AAAAAAAAAMw/IU7TDBu-dE4/s1600-h/ogden_nash_vanityfair_190.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 190px; height: 259px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Sb-x0iMg7LI/AAAAAAAAAMw/IU7TDBu-dE4/s320/ogden_nash_vanityfair_190.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314161601411083442" border="0" /></a> Is the question asked on Vanity Fair's April cover about new comedians. Lets hope the new crew can stave off barrel living during this downturn.<br /><br />They might take heart in knowing that Ogden Nash's rapid career ascent occurred during the Great Depression. Nash's book "Hard Lines" was embraced by a nation in search of smiles during the 30's. <br /><br />Similarly, in the 1940's overseas G.I.'s were laughing in their foxholes at specially printed collections of Nash's poems. These paperbacks were published by the War Department and shipped along with their canned rations.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/SdDz_Lo6mfI/AAAAAAAAAN8/ULXxYgf62Bg/s1600-h/hard+lines+ad.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 192px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/SdDz_Lo6mfI/AAAAAAAAAN8/ULXxYgf62Bg/s320/hard+lines+ad.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319019426706266610" border="0" /></a><br />Perhaps the Great Recession is the right time for an Ogden Nash renaissance.<br /><br />The battered housing market is not keeping a real estate developer from tearing down one of Ogden Nash's favorite hangouts. New Hampshire's <a href="http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20090311-NEWS-90311018">Portsmouth Herald</a> reports that Rye Harbor Realty is proposing to tear down <a href="http://www.saundersatryeharbor.com/history.html">Saunders</a> restaurant, a frequent summer dining venue of Ogden Nash, and replace it with eight condos.<br /><br />The local board of adjustment has scheduled the vote for April 8th. The restaurant is expected to remain open for one more summer even if the developer prevails.<br /><br />Saunders was founded in 1920 by a local fisherman and grew from fish market to lunch counter to a popular full service restaurant.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Sb-7tt05eBI/AAAAAAAAAM4/sXxRyH0Lgl0/s1600-h/saunders.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 62px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Sb-7tt05eBI/AAAAAAAAAM4/sXxRyH0Lgl0/s320/saunders.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314172479390447634" border="0" /></a>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05438508489768945951noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3462527143140947731.post-39574556800798882622009-03-12T17:53:00.000-07:002009-04-23T01:33:12.746-07:00Moyers and Lithgow on Ogden Nash<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/03062009/watch.html"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 245px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_umFS7apw9TM/Sbmv9r5kjXI/AAAAAAAAAMo/azWuwVsp3M8/s320/ogden+nash+john+lithgow+bill+moyers.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312470709751287154" border="0" /></a><br />"...One of the reasons why I love Nash is, to the extent I write poetry at all, I write daffy doggerel for little children. But Ogden Nash is kind of my patron saint. " Said John Lithgow on a recent episode of <a href="http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/03062009/watch2.html">Bill Moyers Journal</a> .<br /><br />Moyers also wonders aloud what it would be like to have Nash and Shakespeare together:<br /><br />BILL MOYERS: I've often-I've wondered sometimes if Shakespeare might, where ever the great poets gather, be sitting on a corner with Ogden Nash. Comparing their almost mischievous view of life that reflects itself in different...(Lithgow cuts him off )<br /><br />Clearly Moyers holds Nash in high regard.<br /><br />While Lithgow reveres Shakespeare, surprisingly he characterizes Nash's work as 'doggerel'. and presumptively places himself on par with Nash as a poet. Me thinks the actor doth presume too much. Lithgow closes the Nash segment with a garrulous interpretation of "No Doctors Today, Thank You."<br /><br />"They tell me that euphoria is the feeling of feeling wonderful, well,<br />today, I feel euphorian,<br />Today I have the agility of a Greek god and the appetite of a Victorian.<br />Yes, today I may even go forth without my galoshes,<br />Today, I am a swashbuckler, would anybody like me to buckle any<br />swashes?<br />This is my euphorian day,<br />I will ring welkins and before anybody answers I will run away.<br />I will tame me a caribou<br />And bedeck it with marabou.<br />I will pen me my memoirs.<br />Ah youth, youth! What euphorian days them was!<br />I wasn't much of a hand for the boudoirs,<br />I was generally to be found where the food was.<br />Does anybody want any flotsam?<br />I've gotsam.<br />Does anybody want any jetsam?<br />I can getsam.<br />I can play chopsticks on the Wurlitzer,<br />I can speak Portuguese like a Berlitzer.<br />I can don or doff my shoes without tying or untying the laces because I<br />am wearing moccasins,<br />And I practically know the difference between serums and antitoccasins.<br />Kind people, don't think me purse-proud, don't set me down as<br />vainglorious,<br />I'm just a little euphorious."<br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><span class="style12">Copyright © by Linell Nash Smith and Isabel Nash Eberstadt. </span></span><br /><br />BILL MOYERS: Oh, I love that. Euphorious. A word without meaning, but which is invested with feeling. You get it, even if you don't get it, right?<br />JOHN LITHGOW: Yeah. He just loved music. He loved to almost caricature language.<br /><br />You can watch the entire episode and read the transcript <a href="http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/03062009/watch2.html">here</a> . The poem is read at about the 15 minute mark of the second half of the video. <a href="http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/03062009/watch2.html"><br /></a>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05438508489768945951noreply@blogger.com1