“The hardened heart that’s seeking cure
— My own homage to Ogden nash
Is salved by joyful laughings.
So health insurer’s should procure
A whopping dose of Ogden’s Nash-ings.”
Living in Baltimore, one cannot help but fall into a nostalgia for its salient successes over the many years. I’ve watched “The Wire,” of course, and we once dined next to David Simon in DC (I successfully suppressed my desire to fanboy him). I grew up quoting “Diner” by Barry Levinson and also saw his “Tin Men,” both of which celebrated the city’s golden years. I have visited the gravesite of Edgar Allan Poe and lived to tell about it. There was always something cool and outlandish about the 1970’s Baltimore Colts with QB Burt Jones (a friend once quoted to me that his passes were like a “frozen rope”) and coach Ted Marchibroda. We used to go to Orioles games at the old Memorial Stadium (I once caught a foul ball on ricochet and gave it to a kid whose pleading face would have imploded the Eye of Sauron) that was built more for baseball anyway. I forced myself to watch John Waters’ cult-film “Pink Flamingos” (1972) and that winking butthole is indelibly etched in my cultural memory. More recently I read an anthology of articles written by HL Mencken and was utterly amazed by his writing skill and how his sociopolitical analysis, some of which has been reproduced on this blog, is still relevant today. And several years ago, we toured Ogden Nash’s old house at 4300 Rugby Road, where he did most of his writing. It had fallen into disrepair and was for sale (well out of our price range) but had retained a ghostly essence of grandeur and refinement. As is no doubt true for many, my first introduction to poetry was through light verse of Dr. Seuss, A.A. Milne, and Ogden Nash. My parents had the five-volume set of his work, and I was immediately drawn to his playful puns and funny neologisms. My favorites were his animal poems (“God in his wisdom made the fly / And then forgot to tell us why”). I prefered (and still prefer) short poems, ideally funny but also with a heart. And while some offhandedly categorize Nash’s work as cheap doggerel, in reading an anthology of his work I discovered a remarkable range of poems in length, subject matter, style, degree of introspection and often with an endearing wisdom that sustains him in my personal pantheon. I will reproduce some of my favorites here. Enjoy!
“Here’s a good rule of thumb:
— ogden nash’s “reflection on ingenuity”
Too clever is dumb.“
“This one is entering her teens,
— ogden nash on one of his daughters in “The romantic age”
Ripe for sentimental scenes,
Has picked a gangling unripe male,
Sees herself in bridal veil,
Presses lips and tosses head,
Declares she’s not too young to wed.
Informs you pertly you forget
Romeo and Juliet.
Do not argue , do not shout;
Remind her how that one turned out.”
“To keep your marriage brimming,
— ogden nash’s “a word to husbands”
With love in the loving cup,
Whenever you’re wrong admit it;
Whenever you’re right, shut up.”
“Here men walk alone
— ogden nash’s “The City”
For most of their lives,
What with hydrants for dogs,
And windows for wives.”
“Is there a Baltimore Colts fan alive
— ogden nash in life magazine dec 1968
Who’s forgotten Tom Matte in ’65?
The Colts by crippling injuries vexed,
Unitas first and Cuozzo next —
What would become of the pass attack?
Then Matte stepped in at quarterback.
He beat the Rams in a great display,
He did — and he damn near beat Green Bay.
Ask him today to plunge or block,
Tom’s the man who can roll or rock.
In Tokyo, they say karate.
In Baltimore, they call it Matte.”
“Enter, breath;
— ogden nash’s “untitled”
Breath, slip out;
Blood, be channeled,
And wind about.
O, blessed breath and blood which strive
To keep this body of mine alive!
O gallant breath and blood
Which choose
To wage the battle
They must lose!”
“London Bridge is falling down —
— fragment from Ogden nash’s “Don’t sell america short”
But stocks are going up!
Hunger shuffles through the town —
But stocks are going up!
Tell the farmer in the dell,
Tell the striker in the cell,
Zero hour and all is well —
Stocks are going up!..”
“Once more the filibuster runs amok,
— Ogden nash’s “the filibuster”
A kissin’ cousin of the jabberwock.
And what might be this fabulous filibuster?
A beast composed of blathering and bluster.
Yet when it whiffles to the Senate floor
Brave statesmen quiver at its windy roar.
Reason and decency cry out in vain,
And human rights go swirling down the drain.
Though some set forth to slay the filibuster,
It stages more and better last stands than Custer.”
“When you look life in the face
–fragment from the song “Round about” by ogden nash for the 1946 musical “sweet bye and bye”
There’s too much time, there’s too much space,
There’s too much future, too much past,
Man is so little, and the world is so vast;
You may fancy yourself as an immortal creature
But you’re just a cartoon between a double feature…”
“Time walks on and people die;
— ogden nash’s “unititled”
Other people, never I.”
Great Exudations 
HA!! ❤️
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