The poetry meme

[madbaker]

stolen from fionnbharro, but I think that my response in one of his earlier posts prompted this - so I'm taking some responsibility for it.

Post the first poem you ever memorized. If it's over a dozen lines or so, place it behind a cut. Please omit nursery rhymes or other 'children's' poetry.
And it you never memorized a poem, shame on you! Go memorize one now.

I refuse to categorize Ogden Nash as "children's poetry", so:

Behold the duck.
It does not cluck.
A cluck it lacks.
It quacks.
It is specially fond
Of a puddle or pond.
When it dines or sups,
It bottoms-ups.

If you do disqualify Nash, then feh on you. Here's the alternate:

The first child of Miss Keats-Shelley
Came to light with its face in its belly
The second was born
With a hump and a horn
And the third was as shapeless as jelly.
-Edward Gorey (as if you're at all surprised by this...)

Comments

Yay, Ogden Nash!

[scendan.livejournal.com]

A panther is like a leopard,
Except it hasn't been peppered.
Should you behold a panther crouch,
Prepare to say, "Ouch!"
Better yet, if called by a panther,
Don't anther.

or...

A firefly's flame
Is something for which science has no name.
I can think of nothing eerie
Than to have an unidentified glow
On a person's posterior.

(My apologies if I bobbled these...they're straight from memory and may have inaccuracies...)

Re: Yay, Ogden Nash!

[scendan.livejournal.com]

For instance, that should have been "eerier." Not eerie.

Yeesh.

Re: Yay, Ogden Nash!

[our-meg.livejournal.com]

The one 'l'ed lama, he's a priest.
The two 'l'ed llama, he's a beast.
And I will bet a silk pajama
there isn't any three 'l'ed lllama.

Makes a bit more sense spoken than written, but it's the first poem I can remember learning.

I learned lots of movie quotes when I was little, do they count?