Frederic Ogden Nash (August 19, 1902 - May 19, 1971) was an American poet best known for writing pithy and funny light verse. At the time of his death in 1971, the New York Times said his "droll verse with its unconventional rhymes made him the country's best-known producer of humorous poetry".

Poetry examples by Ogden Nash and his biography courtesy of poetrysoup.com

Written by Ogden Nash |
The Firefly
The firefly's flame
Is something for which science has no name
I can think of nothing eerier
Than flying around with an unidentified glow on a
person's posteerier.

Written by Ogden Nash |
Oh To Be Odd!
Hypochondriacs
Spend the winter at the bottom of Florida and the summer on top of
the Adirondriacs.

You go to Paris and live on champagne wine and cognac
If you're dipsomognac.

If you're a manic-depressive
You don't go anywhere where you won't be cheered up, and people say
"There, there!" if your bills are excessive.

But you stick around and work day and night and night and day with
your nose to the sawmill.

If you're nawmill.


Note: Dipsomaniac -- alcoholic

On the Nonet: (courtesy of shadowpoetry.com)

A nonet has nine lines. The first line has nine syllables, the second line eight syllables, the third line seven syllables, etc... until line nine finishes with one syllable. It can be on any subject and rhyming is optional.

line 1 - 9 syllables
line 2 - 8 syllables
line 3 - 7 syllables
line 4 - 6 syllables
line 5 - 5 syllables
line 6 - 4 syllables
line 7 - 3 syllables
line 8 - 2 syllables
line 9 - 1 syllables

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