Ogden Nash was a famous American poet well known for his light verse.  At the time of his death in 1971, The New York Times said his droll verse with its unconventional rhymes made him the country's best-known producer of humorous poetry.   Nash wrote over 500 pieces of comic verse.  The best of his work was published in 14 volumes between 1931 and 1972.  https://www.best-poems.net/ogden_nash/index.html 

Ogden Nash’s most famous poem is probably ‘The Song of the Open Road,’ which was published in his 1931 collection Hard Lines.  The poem is a humorous take on the American dream of freedom and adventure.  https://poemanalysis.com/ogden-nash/biography/    

Camille Saint-Saëns’ The Carnival of the Animals

Saint-Saëns, who lived from 1835 to 1921, composed the Carnival in 1886, but, concerned that such a lighthearted work might harm his reputation as a serious composer, allowed only private performances of it during his lifetime.  Its public premiere took place in 1922, and it quickly became one of his best-loved works.  In the late 1940s, Goddard Lieberman of Columbia Records and conductor Andre Kostelanetz had the inspired idea of adding poetry to Saint-Saëns’ score.  Ogden Nash was their first and only choice as poet, as was Noël Coward as speaker for the projected recording.  https://derricksblog.wordpress.com/2016/11/30/saint-saens-the-carnival-of-the-animals-with-verses-by-ogden-nash/  

FOOD  VERSES

“Bring salad or sausage or scrapple,
A berry or even a beet.
Bring an oyster, an egg, or an apple,
As long as it’s something to eat”

“I'm sure that Europe never had.  A fish as tasty as the shad” 

Play the music of Haydn or Honegger, But lace it with honest oil and vinegar!”

“Let us call Yorkshire pudding A fortunate blunder.” 

Ogden Nash (1902-1971)    

The Kitten Playing with the Falling Leaves (excerpt) by William Wordsworth
--But the kitten how she starts!
Crouches, stretches, paws, and darts:
First at one, and then its fellow,
Just as light, and just as yellow:
There are many now--now one--
Now they stop and there are none.
What intentness of desire
In her up-turned eye of fire!
With a tiger-leap half way,
Now she meets the coming prey.
Lets it go at last, and then
Has it in her power again.  https://www.jigidi.com/jigsaw-puzzle/is42prhj/kitten-playing-with-fallen-leaves/

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2863  October 9, 2024