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"A Notorious Trifler" (July/August 2002)
For Ogden Nash, humor was "a shield, a weapon, a survival kit." Herewith a small selection, previously unpublished. By Gary Cohen

The Atlantic Monthly | July/August 2002
 
To a Foolish Dog

by Ogden Nash
 
 .....
 

Joxer, bouncing harlequin,
All ingratiating grin,
Which begat thee, jolly Joxer?
Airedale, poodle, beagle, boxer?
Scottie braw or Irish terrier?
Never mind, the more the merrier;
A pedigree so heterodox
Perks up thy personality, Jox,
For thou, rambunctuous residual,
Wert whelped unique and individual,
A blithe buffoon, a jester pampered,
Nor by the Ten commandments hampered,
(I know thou triflest with the Seventh)
But Joxer, mind the stern Eleventh,
Or learn from choking leash and baffling tether
Thy neighbor's leghorns thou shalt not de-feather.


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Copyright © 2002 by The Atlantic Monthly Group. All rights reserved.
The Atlantic Monthly; July/August 2002; To a Foolish Dog; Volume 290, No. 1; p. 112.