# Help me find a poem, please **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** poetry\ **Created:** [January 30, 2022, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-a-poem-please/958649 "2022-01-30T03:23:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2022, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-a-poem-please/958649/1 "2022-01-30T03:23:23Z")
The title of the poem is _Nancy_. It appeared in an anthology of English-language poems that I had as a textbook in a high school English class (1970-1974). The title refers, of course, to the comic strip character drawn by Ernie Bushmiller. I vaguely remember that she was being characterized (in the poem) as being an unhappy child, perhaps prone to temper tantrums. The poem, as I recall, opens by name-checking Fritzi Ritz, Nancy’s aunt and legal guardian. I believe she was getting ready to go out. I also believe that it was implied that Fritzi was a prostitute. Does anyone know where I might be able to find this poem for a re-read? TIA ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2022, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-a-poem-please/958649/2 "2022-01-30T04:06:25Z")
Google Books doesn’t give a preview, but the metadata makes this a possibility. ### Holy Doors: An Anthology of Poetry, Prose, and Criticism - Page 50 [books.google.com](http://books.google.com) › books ]([Google Books](https://books.google.com/books?id=KYQaAQAAMAAJ&q=%22fritzi+ritz%22+nancy+poem&dq=%22fritzi+ritz%22+nancy+poem&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=1&printsec=frontcover&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwib3aqAzNj1AhXmj4kEHbfGClIQ6AF6BAgYEAI)) [William J. Robson](https://www.google.com/search?newwindow=1&tbm=bks&sxsrf=APq-WBuB_Og2BZjuArXafWkI8YmNpkWVpw:1643515407420&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22William+J.+Robson%22&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwib3aqAzNj1AhXmj4kEHbfGClIQ9Ah6BAgYEAU) · 1972 · ‎Snippet view Found inside – Page 50 PASADENA _POEM_ An flight ah freedom flight from futures , along skyways of wonderful advertisements Ah rage of … just like _Fritzi Ritz_ screeching NO !!! at enterprising _Nancy_ from a dog - eared copy of Comics On Parade under the bed . ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2022, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-a-poem-please/958649/3 "2022-01-30T13:29:02Z")
If I had to venture a guess, Joe Brainard or someone in his circle might be the poet. Their obsession with, and irreverent appropriation of Nancy was a constant thorn in Ernie Bushmiller’s side in the 60s and 70s. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2022, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-a-poem-please/958649/4 "2022-01-30T15:28:51Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Does anyone know where I might be able to find this poem for a re-read? > > TIA Was it [this](https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1966/08/18/nancy/)? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2022, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-a-poem-please/958649/5 "2022-01-30T16:36:12Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Was it [this](https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1966/08/18/nancy/)? YES, by God! Boy, I sure was rubbish at reading for comprehension when I was in high school, wasn’t I? Thankyouthankyouthankyou! How ever did you find it? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2022, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-a-poem-please/958649/6 "2022-01-30T16:51:00Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Thankyouthankyouthankyou! > > How ever did you find it? I just figured that, if the poem had correctly mentioned “Aunt Fritzi”, then you and **Exapno** would’ve found it in no time flat — and so I instead googled poems with “Aunt Fritzy”, and it obligingly popped up. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2022, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-a-poem-please/958649/7 "2022-01-30T17:56:08Z")
Great find. Putting Nancy by Edward Field back into Google books doesn’t turn up any anthologies, just some later collections of Field’s poetry. I suppose that not every school-oriented textbook made it into the college libraries that Google draws from. What really irks me is that Field misspelled Fritzi as “Fritzy”! Nobody at the august and pretentious _New York Review of Books_ thought to fact check the spelling? And Google’s search engine was thwarted by a mere typo? Where’s artificial intelligence when you need it?