Fun_People Archive
16 Jun
LIT BITS V3 #168

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From: Peter Langston <psl>
Date: Fri, 16 Jun 100 17:17:12 -0700
To: Fun_People
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Subject: LIT BITS V3 #168

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Excerpted-from: LITERARY CALENDAR V3 #168
From: ptervin@pent.yasuda-u.ac.jp

Today is Saturday, 17 June 2000; on this day,

281 years ago (1719),

	Essayist Joseph Addison dies at 47 in Holland House, London.  He
     is buried in Westminster Abbey.

133 years ago (1867),

	Australian writer of short stories and ballad-like verse and noted
     for his realistic portrayals of bush life, Henry Lawson, is born
     Grenfell. Though he worked for several newspapers, much of the material
     for his writing will come from wandering.

129 years ago (1871),

	Poet, diplomat, and anthologist of African-American culture, James
     Weldon Johnson, is born in Jacksonville, Florida. After practicing
     law in Florida, he will go to New York with his brother, John Rosamond
     Johnson, a composer, where they will write some 200 songs for the
     Broadway stage. His _Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man_, which is
     first published anonymously in 1912, will only gain attention after
     it is reissued in 1927 under his own name.

86 years ago (1914),

	John Hersey (_Hiroshima_; _The Wall_) is born in Tientsin, China.

71 years ago (1929),

	Harry and Caresse Crosby publish The Black Sun Press edition of
     the "Tales Told of Shem and Shaun" section of James Joyce's _Finnegans
     Wake_ (a work in progress). At the last minute the printer discovers
     the final page has only two lines of copy and begs Caresse for more,
     but she claims she could never approach Joyce with such a request.
     The printer returns the next day with eight more lines, remarking:
     "He had been wanting to add more, but was too frightened of you,
     Madame, to do so."

57 years ago (1943),

	Annie Shepherd Swan, prolific popular novelist, dies. (LS)


Today's poem:

                    Sence You Went Away

     Seems lak to me de stars don't shine so bright,
     Seems lak to me de sun done loss his light,
     Seems lak to me der's nothin' goin' right,
     Sence you went away.

     Seems lak to me de sky ain't half so blue,
     Seems lak to me dat ev'ything wants you,
     Seems lak to me I don't know what to do,
     Sence you went away.

     Seems lak to me dat ev'ything is wrong,
     Seems lak to me de day's jes twice as long,
     Seems lak to me de bird's forgot his song,
     Sence you went away.

     Seems lak to me I jes can't he'p but sigh,
     Seems lak to me ma th'oat keeps gittin' dry,
     Seems lak to me a tear stays in my eye,
     Sence you went away.

                                               James Johnson

© 2000 Peter Langston