THOSE TWO LINERS It seem to me that many people enjoy the short,two-line poems which were once so popular.
Many of them are humorous and some are inspirational, even . We find ways to work them into our conversations and we rarely, if ever, give credit for these gems, largely because we don't know who wrote them. We attribute them to our “Granddaddy”, “Aunt Minnie”, “they”,“someone”, or “a poet.”
Take one of the favorites - which is also said to be the shortest poem in the English language. The title is longer than the poem itself.
“On the Antiquity of Microbes
Adam
had 'em.”
Now, that just has to be by Ogden Nash, doesn't it? Or, Richard Armour, maybe? Or, how about Arthur Counterman? Nope prong-wrong-wrong! It was written by a poet named Strickland Gillilan. His name comes up around Mother's day because he wrote a poem about his mother taking time to read to him as a child. Gillilan,(1869-1956) a newspaperman in Washington, D.C .also head-man of the American Newspaper Humorists Society. That poem, by the way, has also been published with a newer title: “Flees” and attributed to Ogden Nash.
Ben Franklin did some, as well:
“Here Skugg lies snug
As a bug in a rug.”
David McCord's...”On a Waiter”
“By and by
God caught his eye.”
Many such poems are laid at the feet of “Anonymous”. This one
called: “A Dentist.
Stranger! Approach this spot with gravity!
John Brown is filling his last cavity.”
“The Humorist
He must not laugh at his own wheeze:
A snuff box has no right to sneeze.” - Keith Preston
“How Are You?
Don't tell your friends about your indigestion:
'How are you!' is greeting, not a question.
By Arthur Guiterman
Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net 8-8-06 [c306wds]
