Notables Not Unpleasant to Know: Letter C

In his nonsense verse “How pleasant to know Mr. Lear” the popularizer of the limerick makes amusing observations about himself. In the octaves below readers are urged to discover equally intriguing characters who, it’s hoped, will prove just as amusing and, in the end, just as “not unpleasant to know.”

Not unpleasant to know? Mr. Bentley.*
who's gained fame as the clerihew guru.
(Ed invented 'em, too, incidently.)
E. C.'s also the entrepreneur who
penned the tome Trent's Last Case -- did it gently.
Folks who credit Ed's life just a blur rue
ev'ry day they neglect Mr. Bentley,
never hollering "Clerihew! Yoo-hoo!"

     * E. C. (Edmund Clerihew) Bentley (1875-1956)

Also pleasant to know: Mr. Cutler,*

unknown stateside (withal the UK knows
of his apothegms -- most of 'em subtler
than his "Grass doesn't grow on volcanoes.")
Though he's gone, be thou baron or butler,
set aside a small stash of his "Stickies"!**
They’re by pleasant-to-know Mr. Cutler
and sure cures for your blues...and your hickeys.

     * Ivor Cutler (1923-2006)  

     ** Befriend a Bacterium (Stickies by Ivor Cutler) 

Not unpleasant to know? Y. Clacoxia* --

rhetorician cum chum of Doug Hofstadter,
who, referring to Serm, cracks no jokes; he a-
pplauds her** work ("...it’s as good as a profs'...better!"),
finds her thorough, clear, warm, none too folksy: a
sloe-eyed doe at whom no man would scoff. 'Stead, her
rep rides high, as does Y. Serm Clacoxia,
though it’s we who seek Serm: Doug just offset her.

     * Y. Serm Clocoxia: maven or anagram? You decide. 

     * Y. Serm Clocoxia: male or female? You decide.

Also pleasant to know: A. Codrescu;*

all who do declare, "Pay 'Drei' a visit!
This man's stones gather moss (though no fescue),
while his body (of work!) smells exquisite.
Is your ratio ripe for a rescue?
Does your heart belong (partly) to Dada?
Check out pleasant-to-know A. Codrescu:
He'll help honcho that whole enchalada.

     * Andrei Codrescu (1946-   )

Not unpleasant to know? Mrs. Cavendish;*

up with "Blazing World"** just now I've curled.
There live sundry who sadly don't have a niche:
Meg forged many; the lot she unfurled --
tales of beasties ne'er seen in your petrie dish
tales of worlds not sufficiently "girl'd" ***--
did the pleasant-to-know Mrs. Cavendish.
(Plus, young Meg neither knitted nor perled.).

     * Margaret Cavendish (1623-1673), Duchess 

of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne 

     ** The better-known title of her The Description 

of a New World, Called the Blazing World.

     *** Cavendish treated gender and power in some 

of her work and might be considered a proto-feminist.

Also pleasant to know: Mr. Carryl.*

Carryl targeted tots. Aped he Carroll?
Carroll’s books were gold. Carryl’s? More beryl.
Carrol’s books were wild. Carryl’s less feral.
Still, his poetry’s not at all sterile;
He’d sterility pen at his peril –
would the pleasant-to-know Mr. Carryl.
No, he’d not – unless Carryl were “ver(y)ill.”

     * Charles E. Carryl (1841- 1920)