delanceyplace.com 05/04/06 - ogden nash

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In today’s excerpt - a few very short poems and sayings from Ogden Nash.  After six years of writing, advertising and copying as an editor and publicist at Doubleday, Nash claimed he began his career in humorous poetry by scribbling one afternoon. His scribbles were to become a poem called "Spring Comes to Murray Hill". Upon some thought, however, he retrieved it from the wastebasket and sent it to The New Yorker. His first piece of satiric verse was published in 1930. After "Murray Hill", Nash's work began to appear in other periodicals. He was prolific enough that he published a collection of his poetry, Hard Lines, in 1931. Hard Lines sold out seven printings in its first year and catapulted Nash into his role as the master of light verse.  Here are some of Nash's short gems:

Reflections On Ice Breaking:  Candy/ Is dandy/ But liquor/ Is quicker

Further Reflections on Parsley: Parsley/ Is gharsley

Reflection on a Wicked World:  Purity/ is obscurity

The Kitten: The trouble with a kitten is/Eventually it becomes a/CAT

"Progress might have been all right once, but it has gone on too long."

"People who work sitting down get paid more than people who work standing up."

"People who have what they want are fond of telling people who haven't what they want that they really don't want it."

[Suggested by a reader.]