Last November, the Atlantic published a selection of poetry called “9 Poems for a Tough Winter.” First among the nine was “So Penseroso,” a poem by Ogden Nash. I was surprised to see it because Nash, who was insanely popular from about 1931 (the year his first collection of poetry was published) until about 1971 (the year he died), has fallen seriously out of fashion over the last three or four decades. I was born in the late 1950s. My mother often quoted Ogden Nash to me. For some reason she was particularly fond of this little ditty:
I'm 65 but when I was very young I read a Nash poem that stuck with me. It was a take on the new health fad of chlorophyll. It went something like this: "If chlorophyll cures every ill it would be my expectation that on every corner there would be a chlorophylling station." I have never been able to track down the original and was wondering if you may have seen in any collection.
I can still recite the one that tickled me as a young girl! Hopefully my brain didn’t mangle it over the years.
“Tell me, oh octopus, I begs,
Is those things arms, or is they legs?
I wonder at thee, oh octopus
If I were thou, I’d call me us!”
Thanks Kevin. Well, since I am from the Bronx I will say "Thonxs"
I'm 65 but when I was very young I read a Nash poem that stuck with me. It was a take on the new health fad of chlorophyll. It went something like this: "If chlorophyll cures every ill it would be my expectation that on every corner there would be a chlorophylling station." I have never been able to track down the original and was wondering if you may have seen in any collection.
What is the Charactes in the story