The Anthracite/Poetry Connection

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I was doing some winter-keep-the-silverfish-away cleaning and came across one of my old textbooks from grade school and started leafing through it. I came across a poem called Mummy Slept Late and Daddy Fixed Breakfast by John Ciardi that starts like this:

Daddy fixed the breakfast.
He made us each a waffle.
It looked like gravel pudding.
It tasted something awful.

“Ha, ha,” he said, “I’ll try again.
This time I’ll get it right.”
But what I got was in between
Bituminous and anthracite.

This was M and P enough, but I just did have to share. :smiley:
And Anthracite, no hard feelings at being compared to a gravelly waffle.

2

I tried it with a hacknife,
I tried it with a torch -
It didnt even make a dent
It didnt even scorch.

The next time dad cooks breakfast,
While mommy’s sleeping late,
I think I’ll skip the waffles,
I’d sooner eat the plate!
That’s from memory, too, so it may be a little rusty.

John Ciardi rules!

love
sneeze

3

That sounds right to me, Sneeze. :slight_smile: I really think I like this poem because it reminds me of all the times my own father (and on occasion, my mother) would cook just barely edible concoctions. The crowning victory of Nasty Foods, however, being salmon cakes…but I digress.

While we’re on the topic, anybody ever read something that reminded you of another Doper?

4

I can think of something that reminds me of Anthracite!. I am wearing a dark frosted grey nail polish called “Gris Anthracite”. I bought it two years ago, so it’s a wonder it’s not gone all gunged up. I have too many bottles of nail polish.

Whenever I watch wrestling, I am reminded of hardygrrl.

5

I always think of Anthracite when listening to The Shadow) with Orson Welles. “Blue Coal – Pennsylvania’s finest anthracite!”

6

More threads I missed being AFK for a week…

For more anthracite-related poetry, I’m really surprised no one brought up Phoebe Snow:

(note to Moderators: These were written circa 1890-1910, and should be out of copyright. If I’m wrong, please beat me - Una)

7

If I wanted to know the road to Anthracite, I would damn well ask Fierra. She seems to be the expert 'round here… :wink:

8

There’s also a great song by Serge Gainsbourg called ‘Anthracite’, which has been covered in English by Mick Harvey.