Buzzy Birthdays this month: My sister Lila Hofmeister’s and Connie Lepper’s are today. Also, today would have been Dave Jarrell’s 81st birthday.
On October 2nd, Kim Wiley celebrates her day. Rita (Cole) Murphy celebrates on the 7th; Charlie Simms turns 95 on the 8th; Mark Dominiak’s is on the 8th; Doug Byrne celebrates on the 9th, Robby Norris 12th, Chief Larry and Janet Whitt 15th, Joey Porter 17th, Bev Hall 18th, Pam Koon 22nd, Puggie Pulliam 24th, Connie Lynch 25th, David Norris 28th, Winky and Billy Fitzgerald the 29th, Ned Pratt and Bruce Price on the 31st.
Here’s a little pop quiz for you – name three famous poets. Tough to do eh?
Shakespeare is probably the #1 cited poet but I tend to agree with the critic who wrote “Hey Willie, forget all that goddamn annoying rhyming and just tell the story.” Edgar Allen may make the cut for most Marylanders and of course all us Ravens fans. (Think about that for a moment – a football team named after a poem.) Longfellow will sometimes get mentioned in the list of 3 mostly because everyone seems to know the “You’re a poet and don’t know it….” joke/pun. And my third choice would be Dylan Thomas not so much for his poetry as for his passing of his name along to Bob who would be my selection as #1 poet (click here to read an article on whether or not Bob should be considered a poet.)
Regarding Thomas, he was born on October 27 and on the occasion of his 30th birthday wrote a poem about October and his hometown. Following is a good video on how he came to write that and at the 4:20 you can hear him recite it:
Thomas died at the age of 39 in New York where he pretty much drank himself to death along with some morphine and other drug injections thrown in to help seal his fate. He had arrived in New York a week before his birthday and proceeded to drink and party nonstop for the next couple weeks before dying on 9 November. Thomas’ 3 weeks before his death were a sad and tragic example of how not to take care of yourself (click here.) Guess you can say that he followed his do-not-go-gentle advice.