Haverford College - Record Yearbook (Haverford, PA)

Page 138 text:

Ah now, quit that. Really it is embarrassing to criticise such a poem. Did you ever see the blood sparkling in the wood? Snood would be a better word than blood. Blood and wood don ' t rime anyways. And a snood is so much better because a snood is what a girl ties up her hair with to keep it on straight. A pink snood would be a better color than blood — more delicate, and you can wash — I mean lave it with gasoline when it gets dirty. The woodchuck digs is a pretty line and very inspiring. Keep on digging old woodchuckie and vou ' ll get there. Now any man who is not poetic in his soul would rime something about pigs with this line. But this is the real inspired poetry. No Peruna in this. Pigs wash. — they do not lave, and so they don ' t get a look-in on this poem. Guinea pigs might, but the word guinea is an anapest sylla- ble, and we need a dactyl. Siveet guinea pigs might do if there were no music in your soul. As u ' c pass where wood doves coo — come on now, do you notice that first person plural? There is a woman in this somewhere. Our own critical instinct about the snood shows this, and notice that v ' ord home-planning in the third line. I knew a man who had wood doves. He fed them salted peanuts once and they didn ' t coo after that — they croaked. Here there is calm Brought with the balm Borne from the bending pines Veiled in mist By green leaves kist Mellow the soft sun shines. This poem resembles a slot machine. Every time you bite off a piece there is something to chew on. Here there is calm — how much better that is than Here there is balm. The balm comes from the pine trees, do you get that? Balm is a species of liniment. Balm is the real article, no antiphlogis- tine or New Jersey mud. Balm is sort of slippery elm. Ask for Balm the next time you go to the barber shop — it will make you feel like writing a poem on Inspiration. By green leaves kist. Green leaves don ' t grow on pine trees but the author of this poem is above finicky points. This is called poetic license. Kist is the important word here. The author was cer- tainly slow if he let the green leaves kiss that kid with the snood tied around her head. Never let any- thing like that get by or they will know you are from Philadelphia. Kist is the new acoustic way of 130

Page 137 text:

iloubag ICunrI) 3lnsptrattou This inspiring poem was written by a member of our Class. It is an inspired poem on an inspiring subject. Hill Hep Hep Living the step Over the gleaming sand Twinkle the waves Whose water laves The wood lake ' s peaceful strand. The delightful Hep. Hep, Hep. of the first line shows how inspiring such a simple thing can be. When you read the second line and catch the meter, go back and read the Hep, Hep, Hep all over again. You will have to do it fast to make it rime. You see, this poem is a fast poem — almost breath- less. Twinkle the wave. ;. What a refreshing line is TiriukU- the wares! Supposing it were The leaves twinkle — how much ditt ' erent that would be. Then the next line would have to end with binkle or dinkle. Pensonally we prefer T ir inkle the wares because it brings in the word oc(s, and lares is such a nice word. For instance it would not be polite to tell a man to wa. ' th his feet, — but nobody would mind having to lave his feet. A clean man laves twice a day. A lave room is a bath room, hence the soft sound of s in the word lavatory, as in scissors. Wild in the wood Sparkles the blood Home-planning ' ncath the bltic The wood r.hnck digs Crackle the twigs As we pass n-here the wood doves coo, 129

Page 139 text:

spelling: kissed but tha t doesn ' t make it any better. All we can say about this verse is Rotten! What would that girl with the pink snood think — and a Haverford man too. Breath from the pines Lightens the lines Smoothing out wrinkles of care Under our feet Breathe we the sweet Odor of mayHowers rare. We are certainly glad to get that breath from the pines, but it would have to be pretty strong to lighten the lines any. Smoothing out icrinkies of care is interesting. It shows how the author is getting worried. Don ' t worry, Cuthbert we are with you on this. Umhr our feet breathe we the sweet odor of May flowers rare. The inverted order proves that this must be visualized to be appreciated. We have stepped on some Mayflowers, and we have bent over to smell them under our feet. This is not a comfortable position to be in, but it is poetic. All art ought to be universal. Face we the lake Joy in the quake As winds through the tree tops wheeze Far in the wild I am a child Of brown aborigines. The dope on this verse is as follows. As we smelt the Mayflowers ' neath (poetic for beneath) our feet, we look between our legs and face the lake. That is how we get joy in the quake. We knew there would be an earthquake somewhere along in here. Quake is short for (luiver which rimes with shiver. Ak winds through the tree-tops wheeze. This is the summit of inspiration. Any common man like u. would slip the word sneeze in after a line like this. Did you ever hear the breeze wheeze through the trees? Take it from us, electric fans are a poor imitation of the beauties of nature. 131