Ogden Nash : 19th Aug 1902 - 19th May 1971I first came across Ogden Nash, when he saved my sappy ass, many moons ago, when I used to leave the loose federation of States called America, by way of his home city of Baltimore.
Saying goodbye to the North Star of my life at the airport, the flight was delayed, and buying, by myself, some reading matter and beer for us at the terminal store I spotted a tiny book of his poems and gave it a flick through. What I found was a delightful kindred spirit to us both, someone who was prepared to jump into an ocean of words and splash about in it.
It also had in it, the best left field romantic poem I had ever read; ( if you really want to know what a sap I can be then go find and read " To my Valentine" yourself ) and not being one for overt melodrama an' all...I bought the tiny tome, folded down the corner of that page, and secretly slipped it in her pocket come all the huggin' at the boarding gate later.
Over the years I have delighted in reading everything Ogden managed to publish in his 68 years... and he's even encouraged me to feel free to cobble around with things that I write too, ( much to the annoyance of my editors ) but hey, if you can't make up a word here or there, then what's the fun in that.
Some of his poems are national treasures in the USA...such as the "Line-Up for Yesterday," which is an alphabet of famous baseball players, that many a young merkin lad has learned.
And what about his sage advice to young Husbands-to-be on the eve of their weddings:
So Happy Birthday for today Ogden, and I'm sure all the KMSA will join me in raising a glass to someone who brought a smile to our lives.
Sir Dayvd (who knows Oggy would have loved the title at the beginning) of Oxford-not-by-the-sea.
