Ogden Nash, Serious Poet

 
I must be kidding, right? No. One of the greatest writers of light and humorous verse in the past hundred years wrote serious works as well. Here are three that are worth your attention:

• Old Men
• Listen...
• The Return

'The Return' is hard if not impossible to find on the web. But it occurs... and I found it... in a new volume called "The Best of Ogden Nash," a few hundred verses selected and edited by Linell Nash Smith, a daughter of Nash. The man had many sides not revealed by "Candy is dandy"; his entire opus is worth exploring.

And the book, which is damned expensive, is nonetheless worth owning. I bought it tonight, full price, locally, a sort of "pearl of great price" that takes my recreational book budget for the month. It was worth it.