Anybody who thinks poetry “difficult and dull” should read the poems of Ogden Nash (1902-1971). His poems are usually short, easily understood, funny, quirky, and often have unusual rhymes. After a brief career as a teacher and copy writer for an advertising company, Nash made his living through writing and performing. Many of his poems were published in the New Yorker, and they are collected in reputable anthologies, including in The Rattle Bag, which was compiled by Seamus Heaney and Ted Hughes.

It was there that I read Old Men, which is atypical of Nash’s work in that it is sad rather funny. It’s message is that “only old men care when old men die.” Not even, if Nash is to be believed, do old women care. I’m an old man, which is one reason that the poem appealed to me, but I agree with the sentiment that it’s right for old men to die and not clutter up the place.

But for balance I’ve also included below three funny poems, two of them with only two lines, which are more typical of Nash’s work.

Old Men
People expect old men to die,
They do not really mourn old men.
Old men are different. People look
At them with eyes that wonder when…
People watch with unshocked eyes;
But the old men know when an old man dies.

The Cow
The cow is of the bovine ilk;
One end is moo, the other, milk

The Fly
God in his wisdom made the fly
And then forgot to tell us why.

The Octopus

Tell me, O Octopus, I begs
Is those things arms, or is they legs?
I marvel at thee, Octopus;
If I were thou, I’d call me Us.