Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2004 12:19:39 -0400
Subject: Re: On Poetry
Status: RO

In alt.religion.kibology, asweinbe@midway.uchicago.edu wrote:

The moving finger of Eb Oesch  wrote and then moved on:
>slight changes can turn a dud into a hit, as with Elizabeth Barrett
>Browning's "How does my dog smell?"

If my dog smells, o let it be for nought
But smell's sake only.  Do not say
  It smells for rotted flesh - for mud - for whey
  And curds left overnight - for gutter slime
  It rolled in - for paint or turpentine
  That caked its hide on this or such a day.
For these things in themselves, o Rover, may
Be changed or swept away -- and smells, so wrought
May be unwrought so. Neither smells it for
Thy own dear pity washing it till dry --
A creature might forget to wallow who bore
That treatement long, and lose its smell thereby!
No, my dog has no nose, and so, infalliable,
It will smell on, and will smell terrible.

Plorkwort
-- 
In top center of cabbage, cut a well and insert can of canned heat. Thrust 
ends of toothpicks into surface of Flaming Cabbage Head, above curled leaves.
Before eating, hold each frankfurter over flame in cabbage to reheat.
--"Marinated Cocktail Frankfurters." The General Foods Kitchens Cookbook, 1959