Silly Poetry Friday 4

It's that time again folks, so don't go shakin' your sillies out, silly – you want them so's you can enjoy the poems!

Today's poems come to you from one of the grand master of silliness – the wonderful Mr. Ogden Nash. I discovered his nonsense verse when I was quite young, on one of my many expeditions into our magical basement library where my Mom had an astounding collection of old paperbacks. If memory serves me correctly, I believe the title of her collection of Ogden Nash poems was The Old Dog Barks Backwards. It was a collection of delightfully silly animal poetry, and I read those poems over and over again. In fact, I loved them so much I even made a little book of silly animal poems myself, in a vain attempt to emulate Mr. Nash. The book even had some very silly illustrations drawn by the young artiste. I think I submitted it for some grade school project. If I can find that little book amongst some of our still unpacked boxes, I'll post some of the poems and pictures at a later date. But enough about me. For now, that is.

Do you know The Purple Cow poem? My Mom used to recite it to me when I was a kid. Even though it is silly, there was always something about the tone of that poem that kind of gave me the willies. Obviously I was a tad over-sensitive as a kid. Of course I'm totally well-adjusted now! (snort).

I've never seen a purple cow
I never hope to see one
But I can tell you anyhow
I'd rather see than be one.

Deep, huh? Here's one more Ogden Nash poem for the road. I plucked it from The Oxford Book of Comic Verse, edited by John Gross:

A Word to Husbands

To keep your marriage brimming.
With love in the loving cup,
Whenever you're wrong, admit it;
Whenever you're right, shut up.

UPDATE: Stop the presses! I have it on good authority that the true author of the Purple Cow poem is none other than Gelett Burgess! Oh the humanity! I throw myself down upon the mercy of the silly poetry court! Mea culpa!!

Comments

[Beth]

Okay if I contribute a favourite Ogden Nash ditty? The man had such fun with words!

The Catsup Bottle

First a little
Then a lottle