As Dorothy Parker once said...

[pallas_athena]

I'm stuck at home with Disgusting Flu, so to pass the time, I declare this DOROTHY PARKER WEEK.

This is something I've been wanting to do for some time. Parker is not only a fine wit but a fantastic poet, and her work deserves to be better known-- especially the stuff that doesn't end with a punchline (though a Parker punchline still packs more punch than most.)

I've posted poems of hers here before:
Braggart, which is the most fuck-off-world poem I know; and
The Satin Dress, a fine poem about sewing.

But how would Parker introduce herself? Like this, I think:

Fighting Words

Say my love is easy had,
Say I'm bitten raw with pride,
Say I am too often sad--
Still behold me at your side.

Say I'm neither brave nor young,
Say I woo and coddle care,
Say the devil touched my tongue--
Still you have my heart to wear.

But say my verses do not scan,
And I get me another man!

Comments

[megamole.livejournal.com]

There was a young Japanese man
Whose limericks never would scan.
When asked why this was,
He said "It's because
I try and get absolutely as many words as humanly possible into the last line as I can."

[library-keeper.livejournal.com]

Now stay out of the snow, Liza, do,
And I hope you get over your flu.
The wit of Miss Parker
Is crueller and darker
Than anything written by you.