Poem for Monday

Compliments of a Friend
By Ogden Nash

For every sin that I produce
Kind Me can find some soft excuse,
And when I blow a final gasket,
Who but Me will share my casket?
Beside us, Pythias and Damon
Were just two unacquainted laymen.
Sneer not, for if you answer true,
Don't you feel that way about You?

--------

"The comic versifier Ogden Nash is remembered for a few short rhymes that, for some tastes, have become almost folkloric: 'Candy/ Is dandy/ But liquor/ Is quicker,'" writes Robert Pinsky in Sunday's Washington Post Book World in Poet's Choice. "The genial cleverness, even in these chestnuts, does not entirely conceal an interest in sex and in the inhibitions, obstacles or deceptions of courtship. As with other light entertainers, Nash's body of work reveals a certain edge and darkness. He was also a sophisticated writer, irritated by the immensely popular poet Edgar Guest of the generation before his own...like all excellent comedy, Ogden Nash's verses, however charming, have a distinct unsettling element.

I spent another very lovely afternoon in an earlier century, this time the Civil War, where reenactors recreated the Battle of Hanover. Last time they did this, for maximum realism, they fought on the actual streets where the battle took place, but this was very difficult for people, horses and motorists alike, so this time they held it in a wooded field a couple of blocks away. My throat still feels funny from all the sulfur I inhaled -- the Confederates in particular really like to shoot and loaned one of the cannons to the Union so they could have a big-gun battle as well as the foot soldiers and cavalry! Oddly, since we were in Pennsylvania, the Confederate army and the wives and children traveling with it seemed much larger than that of the Union, and the festival shop had lots of t-shirts with things like "Born in the C.S.A." and "I'd rather be historically fair than politically correct."


The Confederate cannon fires...


...followed by gunfire from the cavalry.


Union soldiers return fire.


The Confederate Army reloads and regroups.


Here is General Stuart in his headquarters...


...and General Lee, visiting after the battle.


And this is a prototype Gatling Gun.

We all went out for ice cream, then and his father took the kids mini-golfing while I went shopping with his mother for shoes and a dress to wear to older son's Bar Mitzvah, because I was quite certain I could not handle this with my own mother and his mother is far more likely to judge a pair of $15-on-sale-at-Bon-Ton shoes unbiased without reacting to the fact that they're $15-on-sale-at-Bon-Ton shoes! (Patent leather, very pretty, low heel and comfortable with the latter being my top priority.) I got a dress which I am not positive is the dress -- it's pretty but straight black, and I don't know if I'm supposed to be more colorful, but I have another evening Bar Mitzvah two weeks after my son's and can wear it to that one. I will be so relieved on the day when it no longer matters what I am wearing!

My in-laws are taking the kids camping near Hershey for a couple of days, so and I came home alone after dinner and watched the Shatner roast, which was very funny even though they bleeped some of the best lines and cut others altogether! I don't care what Andy Dick was on (and boy was he on something): any man who reads his own K/S on national television (Spock fired his photon torpedoes in Kirk's wormhole) and claims to be their love child, Kock, is okay in my book. And I realize that Shatner/Nimoy is not Kirk/Spock, but "I love you like a brother" made my night anyway. George Takei took nearly as much ribbing as Shatner, though they cut the bukkake joke. Rene Auberjonois looked like he was having a great time, as did Mark Valley and Jeri Ryan; Nichelle Nichols looked very relaxed if sometimes a little bored; Carrie Fisher always looks fabulous to me.

Monday is going to be insane trying to cover the roast articles and keep up with the Vegas convention coverage -- I originally had plans for tomorrow for a fun day without kids around, but my co-conspirator can't make it so I guess I am going to be working, waah! Maybe I will actually get caught up on LJ for once.