The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1943-09-20

NSSvH AASUO 6IlBaQe.
This new poem Of Mr.. MacLeisli's
appears in the New Yorker magazine
which, rs you know, Is supposed 70
be a humorous magazine, all It's car
toons and articles and stories and
verses and typographical errors and
twisted sentences lifted from the
newspaper columns being intended
to make people laugh. So
Whether his new poem is funny
or not, you'll have to decide for your.
self. Mr.. MacLeish has q good sense
Of hun1or, this volunteer press-agen.
try won't do him any harm, and his
new poem is really something you
shouldn't miss. ',
The title Of the seven and three.
quarter cuatrains is or are, "a Poet
Speaks From the Visitors Gallery
Mr.. MacLeiSh doesn't say 80 speci-
flcally any place, all modern poetry
being q bit vague that way, but Il
Is reasonable to assume that he
means the Visitors Gallery in Con.
gress. Whether he was on the House
or Senate side, he doesn't say either
Visitors aren't allowed to speak from
the galleries, but there's no Law
to keep them from writing poetry
on their impressions.
TO THE GENTLEMEN
The poem begins with an arrest
ing half-stanza which the newspaper
fraternity calls a telegraph lead
The idea is to hit the reader right
between the eyes TO make him sit
up and take notice.
Have Gentlemen perhaps forgotten
this?!
We write the histories.
Socko! But what Gentlemen" 2
Again Mr.. MacLeish isn't specific,
but when you're In the Visitors Gal
lery In Congress, the only gentle
men around are the Gentlemen from
South Carolina or Missouri or the
other 46 states, so obviously this re-
ferS to the Gentlemen OF Congress
Oh, yes! There are the gentlemen
Of the press" too, over in the Press
Gallery. ~.
The I'VE" Of course refers to poets
and right here the plan Of the whole
begins to unfold. Mr.. MacLAiSh In
this poem Is going to bite the hand
that feeds him, and also the hands
that on occasion have slapped him
down, and before he gets through
he's going to get even with all those
congressman and newspaper people
who said and wrote such nasty things
about him when he was trying SO
hard to make something out Of the
once Of Facts and Figures. Boy
this Is going to be good:
Do Gentlemen who Singer Ut the
poets,
who speak the word professor with
guffaws-
DO Gentlemen expect their fame ia
flourish
When we, not they, distribute the
applause?
In other words, Gentlemen OF Con-
gress and the Press, II you want
your name to go down In history, be
kind to all poets and professors as
well as children and dumb animals
And 50 on for q couple more
stanzas. Then comes a one line
stanza, right in the middle Of the
poem:
Have Gentlemen forgotten Mr.. Lin.
coin?
An of the-hip answer would be
mop because, on the Republican
side at least, someone Is mentioning
Lincoln about every IS minutes. But
Mr.. MacLeish doesn't think so:
A poet wrote that story, not q
newspaper.
That might be Carl Sandburg, who
wrote Lincoln's life and used to be
newspaper man himself. But Il
memory serves Alright the biography
is in prose, not poetry, and lot Of
people seem to have discovered Lin.
coin before Sandburg ever got around
to it.
TO THE PRESS
Newspapers are polished on like
this:
HistOry's not written in the kind Of
ink
The richest man Of most ambitious
mind
Who hates q president enough t.
print
A daily paper can afford to flnd.
You will understand this better Il
you put a parenthesis before "oi
most" and after daily paper" But
the real kicker comes in the last
stanza:
Gentlemen have power now and
know Il,
But even the greatest and most IA.
nous kings
Feared and with reason 10 offend
the poets
whose songs are marble and who's
marble sings.
This doesn't mean Hall OF Fame
statues are going TO be wired tcl
sound. Tut II Mr.. MacLeish vii
Just carve out for history. In either
prose or poetry, song, marble or kin.
dried bFickbats. an epic that VIII d.
justice to the present Washington
scene-boy, take an order for siz
copies. quick.
PITCHES STRIKES At 6kUNKs
North Howell. ore. - (U.P) -
Don Vlnton pitched q two-hit, no.
run game against two Bkunks. kill
Ing them both with dirt elods,