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Post by newfieguy74 on Jun 1, 2020 10:11:15 GMT -5
On a lighter note. There is a wonderful light hearted short poem written by Billy Collins, "To My Favourite 17 Year Old High-school Girl." The reading by Billy Collins can be easily accessed on YouTube. Guaranteed to bring a much needed smile during these difficult days. I developed a love of poetry at HC. I have several books of Billy's poetry, and saw him do a reading in person a few years ago at the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival in CT. He was very entertaining. |
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Post by Chu Chu on Jun 2, 2020 10:50:53 GMT -5
Wonderful! My favorite is, "The Revenant". A hilarious classic.
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Post by Chu Chu on Jun 2, 2020 21:34:58 GMT -5
To My Favorite 17-Year-Old High School Girl
Do you realize that if you had started
building the Parthenon on the day you were born,
you would be all done in only one more year?
Of course, you couldn’t have done it alone,
so never mind, you’re fine just as you are.
You’re loved for just being yourself.
But did you know that at your age Judy Garland
was pulling down $150,000 a picture,
Joan of Arc was leading the French army to victory,
and Blaise Pascal had cleaned up his room?
No wait, I mean he had invented the calculator.
Of course, there will be time for all that later in your life,
after you come out of your room
and begin to blossom, or at least pick up all your socks.
For some reason, I keep remembering that Lady Jane Grey
was Queen of England when she was only fifteen,
but then she was beheaded, so never mind her as a role model.
A few centuries later, when he was your age,
Franz Schubert was doing the dishes for his family
but that did not keep him from composing two symphonies,
four operas, and two complete Masses as a youngster.
But of course that was in Austria at the height
of romantic lyricism, not here in the suburbs of Cleveland.
Frankly, who cares if Annie Oakley was a crack shot at 15
or if Maria Callas debuted as Tosca at 17?
We think you are special just being you,
playing with your food and staring into space.
By the way, I lied about Schubert doing the dishes,
but that doesn’t mean he never helped out around the house.
—Billy Collins
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Post by KY Crusader 75 on Jun 2, 2020 22:09:31 GMT -5
Very, very funny.
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Post by rgs318 on Jun 3, 2020 7:46:17 GMT -5
Chu, I had never seen that before. Thanks for posting. It is a really enjoyable way to start the day!
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Post by Chu Chu on Jun 3, 2020 14:53:12 GMT -5
Here is one more Billy Collins gem: The Revenant. For all you fellow dog lovers, it is my favorite!
I am the dog you put to sleep,
as you like to call the needle of oblivion,
come back to tell you this simple thing:
I never liked you–not one bit.
When I licked your face,
I thought of biting off your nose.
When I watched you toweling yourself dry,
I wanted to leap and unman you with a snap.
I resented the way you moved,
your lack of animal grace,
the way you would sit in a chair to eat,
a napkin on your lap, knife in your hand.
I would have run away,
but I was too weak, a trick you taught me
while I was learning to sit and heel,
and–greatest of insults–shake hands without a hand.
I admit the sight of the leash
would excite me
but only because it meant I was about
to smell things you had never touched.
You do not want to believe this,
but I have no reason to lie.
I hated the car, the rubber toys,
disliked your friends and, worse, your relatives.
The jingling of my tags drove me mad.
You always scratched me in the wrong place.
All I ever wanted from you
was food and fresh water in my metal bowls.
While you slept, I watched you breathe
as the moon rose in the sky.
It took all of my strength
not to raise my head and howl.
Now I am free of the collar,
the yellow raincoat, monogrammed sweater,
the absurdity of your lawn,
and that is all you need to know about this place
except what you already supposed
and are glad it did not happen sooner–
that everyone here can read and write,
the dogs in poetry, the cats and the others in prose.
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