053126

penguins <br>

made good eating for a while<br>

we look at each other

053026

lost<br>

wet<br>

the swirl<br> 

of water <br>

the peckish ghoti<br> 

whittled to ivory drifting<br> 

in the abyss the dead city of leviathan 

Review of Pogo Re-runs, Some Reflections on Elections

Walt Kelly, 1974, Pogo Re-runs, Some Reflections on Elections, Fireside Books and Simon and Schuster. Reprints of three Pogo books. These cover the 1952, 1956, and 1960 presidential elections. See below.

Review of The Pogo Sunday Brunch

Walt Kelly, 1959, The Pogo Sunday Brunch, Simon and Schuster. This book certainly has the most delicious cover of any Pogo book. The contents are as full of confusion as any book could be. Our story begins with confusion about whose house is whose, than about who is married to whom, and who has killed whom, and goes on from there. Rumors fly, hop, wriggle, and squirm in all directions. The usual nonsense verse interlude follows this section and precedes a warning about the dangers of military testing. And laundry. This is followed by chirping lessons, and then a memorable incident with some pies. Next, a duel to the death ends inconclusively, there are dog lessons and more nonsense verse, followed by the tale of Cinderola and the Fore-bears. Pogo, Albert, and Churchy star in this heartwarming tale of true love, with Howland Owl as the punkin genie. Or, a mouse and a bug star in this heartwarming tale of employment under false pretenses.

DN 133 Contents

DN 133<br><br>

Contents<br><br>

 

Denny E. Marshall, The Slow Touch, cover<br>

E.W.H. Thornton, Small Broken Things<br>

Santiago Eximeno, tr. Monica Louzon, Letters from a Dead Girl<br>

Sarah Cannavo, [family barbecue]<br>

Allen K, Space Dome<br>

Greg Schwartz, [levitation spell]<br>

Gracie Jones, Witch<br>

Gwynne Garfinkle, dear Semele<br>

Mary Soon Lee, Twelve Words<br>

Muhammad Ubandoma, Maqtoob: Genesis with a Mouth Full of Ash<br>

Denny E. Marshall, The Orb Collector<br>

Allen K, [untitled]<br>

Rich Magahiz, Techniques of the masters<br>

Herb Kauderer & David Clink, Small Gods<br>

Greg Schwartz, [coffin nail]<br>

Roger Dutcher, The Call<br>

Kathryn Ptacek, Fine Feasting<br>

Robert Frazier & Roger Dutcher, Forever and AllWayz<br>

D. F. McCourt, Seven Essential Safety Tips for Your Visit to Amsterdam<br>

Jacqueline West, Five-Hundredth Anniversary<br>

Pixie Bruner, Falling out of trees<br>

Joshua St. Claire, On Camille Pissarro’s Church in Knocke<br>

Allen K, Planetfall<br>

Sarah Cannavo, [At cousin Katie’s wedding]<br>

Ian Li, Reseeding Day<br>

Faustina Izudinobi, Quantum Leap<br>

Randall Andrews, A Heart Laid Bare at Kraken Mare<br>

Denny E. Marshall, Bubbles & Stars<br>

John Grey, Business as Unusual<br>

Greg Schwartz, [hazy moon]<br>

Marisca Pichette, The Last Glacial Maximum<br>

Rich Magahiz, [overhead]<br>

Daniel Roop, [world war iv]

Review of The Incompleat Pogo

Walt Kelly, 1954, The Incompleat Pogo, Simon & Schuster. The book begins with a famous quote from Mark Twain, or was it somebody else? The book is strewn with con artists, weather predictors, babysitters, groundhogs and bugs, like usual. The circus beckons, crawfish menace, and the most popular meal outside of Pogo's house is fried fish, fresh caught. The big news though is that the pup dog is missing. Kidnapped? Simply lost? All the brains available are on the case. Uh-oh. <br><br>The way this case is prosecuted bears a striking resemblance to some real life misbehavior of human-type groups. Suspicions are suspected and soon taken for facts. It's kind of sad that 3/4 of a century later things haven't changed much. We meet the Times Picayune (New Orleans) weather frog, and the interior of Albert Alligator is fearlessly explored. This leads, naturally, to an affair of honor, and Bun Rab carries the hose the entire time. Soon, we meet Roogey Batoon, the Louisiana pelican. Following all the bruhaha connected with that, Owl decides to found a school, Okefenokee U. Sis Boombah, the formidable chicken, is recruited to coach the football team. As plans for the big game stagger onward, love rears its ugly head. Then, disaster! As might have been predicted. This is one of the classic books, in the sense that certain themes that come up again and again in the strip, do so most extravagantly here.

052626

generation ship<br>

a steel Perelandra<br>

sails into night 

Just can't get enough Pogo

I hope you have been enjoying my reviews of Pogo Books as much as I have enjoyed rereading the books. I want to emphasize that even though most of these books cost 10 bucks or more, as opposed to their original prices of one or two dollars, they are definitely worth every penny. If you like silly cartoons or political cartoons, you have come to the right place.

052526

everything's a sign<br>

from some god<br>

which gets the chicken?

052426

From our garden 

Dr Worm

Dreams and Nightmares 133

This issue is being proofed now by the contributors, and should go to the printer within a week. Meanwhile, the September issue is wide open for both poetry and art. I'm open to all forms, particularly free verse and short poems of all kinds. I am also open to any contributors, but especially members of underrepresented groups.

Review of Impollutable Pogo

Walt Kelly, 1970, Impollutable Pogo, Simon & Schuster. The book begins with breakfast. This is followed by a learned discussion about revising the calendar, and then the discussion turns to plans to reduce air pollution by cutting back on breathing. This is interrupted when a bug wakes up the groundhog, but the groundhog turns out to be a bear. The bear bears a very strong resemblance to Spiro Agnew (see the cover). Plans proceed apace for a TV interview show, via seance, with those who are gone, to get their testimonials in favor of not breathing. Meanwhile, Sarcophagus MacAbre, the natural born vulture and professional undertaker, hosts a concert of funeral marches in his digs. "Do you know the effete sorcery of sophistry is fallacious?" is not something you read in just any book.<br><br>

Albert Alligator contemplates giving up cigars as the main drawback to giving up on breathing. Meanwhile, the concert devolves into a judicial discussion of the sort one would expect from today's Supreme Court.  Churchy La Femme is identified as the long-haired rebellious sort who should be in jail. He's bald, but they solve this problem with a wig and toss him into the slammer. That's just the beginning, of the end. Soon, the nonbreathing seance TV show and the court in Sarcophagus's digs merge for a finale, which, if not grand, is certainly final.<br><br>

So on the one hand, this book is full of slapstick, just like many, really all, of the Pogo books. And it isn't overtly political, except for two things. Agnew's caricature has a prominent role, and Kelly is taking a big stick to the workings of the judiciary. Not to mention the foibles of the public, who are somehow convinced that not breathing is going to be both practical and a good cure for pollution.

052226

 

showed her knees<br>

I bought the rump<br>

roast instead

052126

 

roadside hag<br>

neither witch nor fairy<br>

medieval con

052026

 

pins in<br>

the voodoo doll/s butt<br>

sleeping prone

Review of Equal Time for Pogo

Walt Kelly, 1968, Equal Time for Pogo, Simon & Schuster. This book unabashedly covers the presidential campaign for the 1968 election. It begins as congressman Fenster Moop crafts his disavowal speech. Campaigning for the presidency is interspersed with negative diet plans, cannon testing, and so on. Next, the ignoble peace prize, awarded by Ignatz Noble. The candidates show up in various forms. Some are wind up toys, including Richard Nixon and Robert Kennedy. Lyndon Johnson shows up as a Texas longhorn. The others would all be clearly recognizable, but in 1968 I wasn't paying attention to politics and I don't know who they all are. Johnson takes an eye test, and the three bats, Bewitched, Bothered, and Bemildred, become pollsters. Chicken Little plays the role of the well-known Southern Democrat from Alabama.<br><br>

Pogo isn't running for president, but Mole doesn't know that. He's trying to capture Pogo so he can control the country. He is spectacularly unsuccessful. Meanwhile, a rare June blizzard drives several folks indoors. A Pogo impersonator suffers a well-deserved fate, and, just in time, Christmas arrives.

051826

dizzy <br>

and I have to sit down <br>

the air on this world 

051726

the last vampire how to make do with rats

051626

hothouse world <br>

I sip another <br>

iced tea 

051526

doctor doctor <br>

give me the news<br>

write my will now!

Modern spec poets on spec poetry

https://sfpoetry.org/wp/2026/05/01/a-time-travellers-guide-to-speculative-poetry-part-four-contemporary/  This is a very interesting summary, almost a conversation, about the past, present, and future of the field. Full disclosure: I am one of the participants.

051426

big dog<br>

hides from the thunder <br>

squeezing under me 

Review of Walt Kelly's Pogo Romances Recaptured

Walt Kelly, 1975, Walt Kelly's Pogo Romances Recaptured, Freside books and Simon and Schuster. A reprint of two original Pogo books. See below. 

051226

the magic died<br>

and Ouroboros with it<br>

ring of fire

051126

waist deep in mud<br>

you expect to lose a boot<br>

where's Debby?

051026

the library porch<br>

black and white umbrella<br>

rolled up in the car

050926

pancake<br>

flowers fall<br>

seize the nerves

050826

Leaving the hospital<br>

<br>

Patients converge on the window,<br>

outside, the sun brightens, brightens,<br>

each flower turns,<br>

dogs pause on their rounds,<br>

we've waited for this day.

050726

impeccably dressed<br>
the werewolf banged the knocker<br>
clouds parted

050626

don't take any wooden knuckles

Review of Walt Kelly's Pogo Revisited

Walt Kelly, 1974, Walt Kelly's Pogo Revisited, Fireside books and Simon and Schuster. This is a reprint of three books, see below:

Award eligibility

All of the poems published in this blog appear here for the first time, so they are eligible for annual awards.

050426

a flower engulfs <br>

the leader's head<br>

one kick 

May the 4th be with you

All day long.

050326

copter bugs <br>

sail over the fence<br> 

we stop a few 

Review of Pogo's Will Be That Was

Walt Kelly, 1979, Pogo's Will Be That Was, Fireside books and Simon and Schuster. Reprint of two Pogo books, see below.

Review of Gone Pogo

Walt Kelly, 1961, Gone Pogo, Simon and Schuster, reprinted in 1977 in hardback by Gregg Press. <br><br>

The book begins, after a couple of poems, with an illustrated version of that famous Christmas carol, Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly. Somehow it doesn't come out quite right. Next follows a dissertation on the venerable art of joke telling, with a quick segue into politics and psychology. Fisticuffs, or the lack thereof, lead naturally to spying, suspicion, and the discharge of firearms.<br><br>

The book ends with two familiar tales. The first is a retelling of The Night Before Christmas involving the usual sort of mayhem  one expects when people slide  down other people's chimneys. And the last story is a retelling of The Boy Who Cried Wolf, in which many things are not what they seem.<br><br>

As with many Pogo books, this one is in essentially two parts. The first takes place in the swamp, with the usual characters indulging in their usual activities. In the second part of the book, two old and familiar stories are retold in somewhat surprising ways. Nonsense poetry is sprinkled throughout. I think my favorite part of the book is The Night Before Christmas.