Poetry Friday--Fillers

Looking through old newspapers I'm always delighted to find trivia, bits of advice, witty sayings, and poems filling out the pages between stories.

Here are a few samples from the 1930s and 40s:


You can't straighten out a crooked cop by transferring him. The thing to do is to get rid of him.
—Elliot Ness, safety director of Cleveland.

CHIFFON HEAD BANDS.
New York, March 9 (AP).—
Here's a new idea for your chiffon handkerchief. Take two of about the same size—in colors that harmonize—and twist them, in turban fashion, to fit your head.

Risky Business.
Doctor—Put out your tongue.
Little Tommy—Not on your life! I did that to the teacher yesterday and got a licking.—Brooklyn Life.


I have an old book of poems, published in 1937, that also used sayings and short "cute" poems to fill the spaces between longer pieces. I like this one since it is as appropriate today as it was when it appeared:

AS TO THE WEATHER
Anonymous

I remember, I remember,
Ere my childhood flitted by,
It was cold then in December,
And was warmer in July,
In the winter there were freezing--
In the summer there were thaws;
But the weather isn't now at all
Like what it used to was!

It seems a shame that poetry is no longer found stuck between news stories. For that matter, it's a shame that soon there will be no paper newspapers! I wonder how researchers in the future will search through online news sources where content changes hourly?

The week's Poetry Friday round-up is being hosted by The Miss Rumphius Effect, check it out!

--Diane