help me further get to know my favorite poet.
i fell in love with
margaret fishback (
not the Footprints lady) when i was a teenager and found one of her books of poetry in a secondhand bookstore.
most of her writing seems to be about living in nyc, being a lady, being a SINGLE lady (and its accompanying trials and tribulations), writing, and (mostly) light-hearted observation.
i wish i knew more about her and her life. i have found surprisingly little information about her.
a couple of her poems:
THE LONGEST WAY ROUND
IS THE SHORTEST WAY HOME
My treasured friend, I do not mean
To grow continually colder.
But I'm afraid you've yet to learn
That gentleness is quite a factor
In love -- that women do not yearn
To kiss a caterpillar tractor.
SHAKE WELL BEFORE USING
Neglect me for a day or two,
And I shall be in love with you,
So helplessly that you will be
The sun and moon and stars to me.
Persuade me, darling, that my score
Is low -- that I'm a frightful bore.
Convince me that you can forget
Me easily, without regret.
Then I shall be the one to mope
And sit around and dimly hope
That you will deign to think me just
A little better than the dust.
I'll eagerly absorb each crumb
You tender me, and when you come,
Reluctant, to my humble nest,
I'll wear the blue dress you like best,
And laugh at all your jokes, and drink
In all the gorgeous thoughts you think.
GETTING DOWN TO WORK
My pencil's dull; besides, I think
I've really got to have a drink,
And while I go to get the drink,
My pencil being dull, I think
I might as well go down the hall
And get it sharpened first of all.
In just one trip I'll do it all,
One little journey down the hall.
For how can anybody think
Or try to work, who needs a drink?
I'm positive that one and all
Would start by going down the hall.
posted by 4ster at 5:39 PM on August 25, 2012