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Straight Up | Herman

Arts, Media & Culture News with 'tude

Filthy Rotten T.S. Eliot, the Mofo

April 15, 2018 by Jan Herman

When my staff of thousands sent me this book cover, APRIL IS A MOTHERFUCKER, by none other than T.S. Eliot, it put me in mind of Inventions of the March Hare: Poems 1909-1917, which includes Eliot’s fithy rotten early poems. They are so much fun, despite their sometime racism, that they naturally give the P.C. police conniptions. The staffer, who prefers to remain anonymous, points out that the lovely fake book cover, by riffing on one of Eliot’s most famous lines, “is as real as an internet blog can make it.” And now, for your enjoyment, here is the loveliest of the entertaining real stuff:

from Inventions of the March Hare: Poems 1909-1917
[edited with annotations by Christopher Ricks]


The Colombo and Bolo verses are the really dirty stuff. Here are some samples:

Postscript: April 25:

Ah, Spring

“Finally the daffodils
are here,” said a friend,
“and all that malarkey.”
It’s a steal-worthy line
making perfectly clear
that spring has come
and that a great matter
like the season’s arrival
faces scoffers like us
who prefer not to dote.
April isn’t the cruelest
month. I’d say it’s May
when daffodil trumpets
choose to wilt, not gloat.
— JH

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Filed Under: Art, Literature, main, political culture

Comments

  1. Jay Jones says

    April 26, 2018 at 4:56 am

    I can well imagine that old Limerickologist, Gershon Legman collaborating with Fran Landesman to invent these. Perhaps a clue in her poem that reprises “Fuck ‘em if they can’t take a joke.”

Jan Herman

When not listening to Bach or Cuban jazz pianist Chucho Valdes, or dancing to salsa, I like to play jazz piano -- but only in the privacy of my own mind.
Another strange fact... Read More…

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Straight Up

The agenda is just what it says: news of arts, media & culture delivered with attitude. Or as Rock Hudson once said in a movie: "Man is the only … [Read More...]

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I'm the author of several books, including The Z Collection: Portraits & Sketches, just published by Blue Wind Press in a new American edition and by … [Read More...]

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I've been a staff writer covering arts and culture at the Los Angeles Times, a reporter and movie reviewer at The Daily News in New York, a reporter … [Read More...]

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