Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Further Reflections on Parsley by Ogden Nash

Further Reflections on Parsley

Parsley
Is gharsley.
--Ogden Nash


After a few days of deep philosophical thinking, we have a poem that's not only utter nonsense, it's shorter than its title. I have nothing to add to this poem.

On another topic, somebody on Peter's Tokyopop messageboard was trying to find a poem. Here's their post:
Yep yep. So as a kid I used to read and hear this one poem all the time. And now I'm trying to find it and I can't! So I'd like some help finding it, if it's possible, please. Unfortunately, my knowledge of this thing is somewhat limited. :[

So anyways, it has a certain rhythm to it, and it says something about standing on the banks of the ocean or something, and it says something about a whale song. The author is female. Google brought me nothing. And I heard it all the time as a kid, so it's not recent.

And it's not "The Song of Hiawatha", but I heard that one as a kid too.
Please make me a happy Puru, thanks!
After one person suggested a poem, she added this:
Thanks, but I remember the author was def. a female. Also, the word "daughter/s" is used somewhere in the poem.
And later, she added this:
I think I first heard it on a kid's story book on tape kinda' thing. And it kinda' had a Native American-ish vibe to it, but I may have just imagined that.

Did I mention that Google gave me nothing? Alas, it is not all-powerful after all. :[

I thought this was hilarious. This is entirely the wrong way to go about finding a poem. You need to have some specific recollection, or you pretty much have to go with random chance. What book did you read it in? What tape did you hear it on? If you don't remember, you can narrow it down by figuring out what books or tapes you had access to at that period in your life. It helps a lot to have a line or two of specific words to search on even if they're not in the title. Finally, you have to realize that Google has two major problems: first, there's too much information out there to give you a good hit on vague information, and second, Google can only show you what's been posted on the web. Of course, you all knew that already.

2 comments:

  1. I'd just remind the reader to say it aloud with an Oxford accent for
    full effect.
    --
    Mike Stay

    ReplyDelete
  2. Did he have another poem with earlier reflections on parsley?

    ReplyDelete