I’m pretty sure that my older brother got Ideal’s “Rebound” game when it first came out in the mid-1970’s; it wound up in my hands a few years down the line. When I was in the first or second grade, I thought it was the coolest thing imaginable.
All posts by Eric Robert Nolan
Cover to “Detective Comics” #651, Kelley Jones, 1992
DC Comics.
“Master and Boatswain” by W. H. Auden (read by Eric Robert Nolan)
April is National Poetry Month.
“Master and Boatswain” by W. H. Auden
At Dirty Dick’s and Sloppy Joe’s
We drank our liquor straight,
Some went upstairs with Margery,
And some, alas, with Kate;
And two by two like cat and mouse,
The homeless played at keeping house.
There Wealthy Meg, the Sailor’s Friend,
And Marion, cow-eyed,
Opened their arms to me, but I
Refused to step inside;
I was not looking for a cage
In which to mope in my old age.
T’he nightingale are sobbing in
The orchards of our mothers,
And hearts that we broke long ago
Have long been breaking others;
Tears are round, the sea is deep:
Roll them overboard and sleep.
“Salammbô,” Alfons Mucha, 1896
Lithograph.
Thanks (again).
I’m probably repeating myself here, but if you are a healthcare professional or a frontline worker of any kind, seriously, thank you.
Doctors and nurses are facing challenges on the job that I couldn’t imagine. Lord knows most of us would have a hard time summoning the courage to face the dangers that they do. I can’t imagine being that disciplined or mentally tough.
And where would we be without essential service workers and store employees? I know that many of them are exposed to a frightening degree of risk — and often for little money. The rest of us would be screwed if they weren’t there. It really is just that simple.
Anyway — you customer service folks — lots of us are especially grateful to you … I hope that you don’t run across any bad apples that obscure the fact.
Hey — if you are reading this and you’re interacting with frontline workers of any kind … maybe we can all make a sort of honor-system-ish online pact here to be extra courteous? I used to work retail, and I can assure you that a sincere thank you or a kind word goes a long way. And tipping well can really underscore the point.
“The Preparations,” by W. H. Auden
“The Preparations” (Part II. of “The Quest”)
All had been ordered weeks before the start
From the best firms at such work: instruments
To take the measure of all queer events,
And drugs to move the bowels or the heart.
A watch, of course, to watch impatience fly,
Lamps for the dark and shades against the sun;
Foreboding, too, insisted on a gun,
And coloured beads to soothe a savage eye.
In theory they were sound on Expectation,
Had there been situations to be in;
Unluckily they were their situation:
One should not give a poisoner medicine,
A conjurer fine apparatus, nor
A rifle to a melancholic bore.
Depiction of The Four Horsemen in St. Agidi Church, Georg Gschwendtner, 1964
Germany.
Future publication
Hey, gang — here’s just a quick update of where my poems and stories will appear next.
“Funeral Blues,” by W. H. Auden
April is National Poetry Month. If you are staying at home (which you absolutely should be), it seems like a perfect time to reacquaint yourself with some old favorites or find some new ones.
You guys know that I run plenty of Auden on this blog — but I don’t remember having ever run this one.
*****
“Funeral Blues,” by W. H. Auden
Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.
Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message ‘He is Dead’.
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.
He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.
The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.
Photo credit: Wellcome Library, London
Cover to “War of the World War One” #3, Pierre Loyvet, 2019
Delcourt-Soleil. France.
Eric Robert Nolan, Author 