Good afternoon all,

Here's something you might not know about me – I am not very good at remembering the differences between Marshall McLuhan, Malcolm McLaren and Malcolm McDowell. It's not very often that this comes up, of course, but the way that it might work is someone might say, "hey I was in the Delauny yesterday and I saw Malcolm McDowell!" and I would say "ah, yes, wonderful! the global village!" and they would look at me askance. Anyway, this week I decided to fix that and write a little rhyme so I never forget again. I was so pleased with it that I share it here in case you have the same problem. I know this is not so much feminism exactly as not being able to tell the difference between men, but you have to admit, this is pretty useful:

"The medium is the message", in 1964

Was H. Marshall McLuhan, from Canada's far shore*

 

Or if you love art school, punk rock and fashion

So did Malcolm McLaren – and he could cash in

 

Malcolm McDowell, Yorkshireman and performer

Played Alex DeLarge in the film with eye trauma

 

Remember this rhyme, you'll remember these men

And never confuse your M-Macs again!

This of course made me think about other women who write comic verse, and I landed quite naturally on Sandra Boynton, author Hippos Go Berserk, of one of my books of 2017. Here's an interview about her book Amazing Cows – if you click through on the link you can also enjoy her charmingly Geocities website:

https://www.sandraboynton.com/sboynton/Amazing%20Cows%20interview.html

Also obviously Dorothy Parker! No one knew their way around a comic verse like Parker. Here's a serious article about some not serious poems – I am not entirely in the headspace for serious chats about literature right now so my pullquote is just going to be one of her poems referenced in the article:

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!

http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/m_r/parker/lightverse.htm

Happy Friday!

A xx.

  *I know that Alberta is an inland province