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Poetry Odds & Ends

A platform to express and share your enthusiasm and passion for poetry. What are your treasured poems and poets? Don't hesitate to showcase the poems you've penned yourself!
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BabyBlues
Float like a butterfly, post like a bee!
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Joined: Sun Jun 29, 2008 6:30 pm
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Whimsy

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Ogden Nash is often cited for his whimsical poems. Perhaps you will enjoy this one.



First Child ... Second Child


FIRST

Be it a girl, or one of the boys,
It is scarlet all over its avoirdupois,
It is red, it is boiled; could the obstetrician
Have possibly been a lobstertrician?
His degrees and credentials were hunky-dory,
But how's for an infantile inventory?
Here's the prodigy, here's the miracle!
Whether its head is oval or spherical,
You rejoice to find it has only one,
Having dreaded a two-headed daughter or son;
Here's the phenomenon all complete,
It's got two hands, it's got two feet,
Only natural, but pleasing, because
For months you have dreamed of flippers or claws.
Furthermore, it is fully equipped:
Fingers and toes with nails are tipped;
It's even got eyes, and a mouth clear cut;
When the mouth comes open the eyes go shut,
When the eyes go shut, the breath is loosed
And the presence of lungs can be deduced.
Let the rockets flash and the cannon thunder,
This child is a marvel, a matchless wonder.
A staggering child, a child astounding,
Dazzling, diaperless, dumbfounding,
Stupendous, miraculous, unsurpassed,
A child to stagger and flabbergast,
Bright as a button, sharp as a thorn,
And the only perfect one ever born.


SECOND

Arrived this evening at half-past nine.
Everybody is doing fine.
Is it a boy, or quite the reverse?
You can call in the morning and ask the nurse.

Ogden Nash
BabyBlues
Float like a butterfly, post like a bee!
Posts: 57
Joined: Sun Jun 29, 2008 6:30 pm
15

Whimsy

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Ogden Nash is often cited for his whimsical poems. Perhaps you will enjoy this one.



First Child ... Second Child


FIRST

Be it a girl, or one of the boys,
It is scarlet all over its avoirdupois,
It is red, it is boiled; could the obstetrician
Have possibly been a lobstertrician?
His degrees and credentials were hunky-dory,
But how's for an infantile inventory?
Here's the prodigy, here's the miracle!
Whether its head is oval or spherical,
You rejoice to find it has only one,
Having dreaded a two-headed daughter or son;
Here's the phenomenon all complete,
It's got two hands, it's got two feet,
Only natural, but pleasing, because
For months you have dreamed of flippers or claws.
Furthermore, it is fully equipped:
Fingers and toes with nails are tipped;
It's even got eyes, and a mouth clear cut;
When the mouth comes open the eyes go shut,
When the eyes go shut, the breath is loosed
And the presence of lungs can be deduced.
Let the rockets flash and the cannon thunder,
This child is a marvel, a matchless wonder.
A staggering child, a child astounding,
Dazzling, diaperless, dumbfounding,
Stupendous, miraculous, unsurpassed,
A child to stagger and flabbergast,
Bright as a button, sharp as a thorn,
And the only perfect one ever born.


SECOND

Arrived this evening at half-past nine.
Everybody is doing fine.
Is it a boy, or quite the reverse?
You can call in the morning and ask the nurse.

Ogden Nash
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Thomas Hood
Genuinely Genius
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It was twins!
jaywalker
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Sundries

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Sorry to hear that-Hope he's better soon. But-No Alcohol ? Is the Doctor a Sadist ?
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Penelope

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One more post ought to do it.
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Great Britain

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Tom Hood!!!!! - may I introduce Jaywalker

You two should get on well!!!

'Twins' Indeed - ;-)
Only those become weary of angling who bring nothing to it but the idea of catching fish.

He was born with the gift of laughter and a sense that the world is mad....

Rafael Sabatini
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Saffron

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I can has reading?
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United States of America

Former U.S. Poet Laureates Billy Collins & Donald Hal on

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Thanks for the heads up DWill! I enjoyed listening to the program. Bill Collins and Donald Hall read a few of their own poems.
Two Former U.S. Poet Laureates, Billy Collins and Donald Hall

Billy Collins discusses his latest poetry collection, titled "Ballistics." Donald Hall on his new memoir, "Unpacking the Boxes."
Guests

Billy Collins, U.S. Poet Laureate 2001 to 2003. He is a Distinguished Professor of English at City University of New York, where he has taught for the past 30 years.

Donald Hall, U.S. Poet Laureate 2006-2007. He has received several national poetry prizes and published more than 15 books of poetry.
Two former U.S. Poet Laureates on Diane Rehm Show
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Saffron

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White Heat: The Friendship of Emily Dickinson & TW Higgi

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Brenda Wineapple "White Heat" (Knopf)

The reclusive Emily Dickinson sent letters and poems to a Massachusetts writer and abolitionist for more than thirty years. After her death, he played a key role in revealing Dickinson's poetic genius to the world. The story and legacy of their unlikely and enduring friendship.

Brenda Wineapple, is the author of "Genet," "Sister Brother," and "Hawthorne. Her essays appear in many publications, including "The New York Times Book Review" and "The Nation.

Brenda Wineapple interview
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Saffron

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DARE you see a soul at the white heat?

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Here is the poem that the title, White Heat is taken from --


Emily Dickinson (1830
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Saffron

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One more interesting little tidbit from the NPR interview of Brenda Wineapple. A woman called into the Diane Rehm Show to tell a story (that she was told by her grandmother who experienced the events first hand) about a note her great grandparents received from Emily Dickinson. The story goes that when her great uncle, Benjamin Kendal Emerson was a small lad he was great friends with Gilbert Dickinson, Emily's nephew. Benjamin was noted as having lovely red curls and apparently the two boys would sleep over at each others houses. One day the two boys played in an open sewer and both were taken ill. Gilbert died and Benjamin recovered. Emily apparently sent over a small gift with the note:

Missing my own
I search in other trundle beds
in hopes curls are in
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Thomas Hood
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