[Quincy Lehr]

Thanks to all who commented, and to John for selecting it. This poem was able to spread some dissension and perhaps even mild rancor, for which I'm profoundly grateful. All in a day's work.

I don't think I've ever written anything that would be likely to show up in the pages of Light magazine. My sense of humor probably tends to run in a more mordant direction than most "light verse," but I don't think that's a bad thing.

Miserablist that I am, I've never really seen a contradiction between a generally pessimistic view of the world and a sense of humor, particularly to a sense of humor that goes for the uncomfortable chuckle and a bit of squirminess rather than the outright guffaw. Which was what drew me to the MacNeice poem that provided a model for this one.

But only in a sense, I think. As John says, there's no direct reference to "Bagpipe Music" here. And, indeed, part of that poem's appeal to me was, quite simply, its ability to be at once utterly absurd yet paint a picture that's at least vaguely depressing and set a mood, at least, that's quite coherent. So it was mostly a matter of borrowing some techniques, throwing in detritus that was distinctly American and contemporary, and running with it. (Incidentally, the poem reached its current form in Ireland, and the posted version reveals that I submitted in haste after rather half-assedly Americanizing spellings and punctuation.)

Van Halen is an American hard rock band, for those who don't know, and William Montgomery ("William Montgomery," "William Montgomery's Guide to New York City," and this poem) and Katie ("William Montgomery," "The Bride of Christ," "Triptych," and this one) are recurrent characters in my stuff. Yes, you have to know my work at least somewhat well to know the latter, but most of those poems are available in chapbook or book form, and aside from a short section with Katie in "Heimat," all of the poems in which they've appeared are published and mostly relatively accessible. (The exception is the as-yet-unpublished forty-five-page "Heimat," and I'm working on getting that one into print.) I'm mostly phasing them out, but William may be due a cameo in something at some point.

Quincy