Notable Nobs Not Unpleasant To Know: Letter S

In his nonsense verse “How pleasant to know Mr. Lear,” that 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 in-
pleasant to know? Mr. Shakespeare, 
     virtu-
oso of sonnet and play. 
     His dra-
matics have got what it takes. Peer?
     Will brooks
none --now, nor back in the day. 
     As for 
verses, his stuff takes the cake -- sheer
     inspire-
ation in lyric and lay
     shows my
pleasant-to-know William Shakespeare.
     (About 
Will I get carried away.)

     Not un-
pleasant to know: Mr. Sime.*  
     Though Sime's
pictures and rhymes, in this clime, 
     yahoos
slime, (though no friend to them I'm),
     in Sime's 
prime, critics thought Sime sublime. 
     At that 
time, Sime's stuff tinkled their chime. 
     Now, to
mine (or mime) Sime be no crime -- 
     as I've
done in my homage to Sime, 
     knowing
Sime'd love my internal rhyme. 
     * Sidney Sime

     Not-un-
pleasant Sin-Leqi-Unnini* 
     made the
Mesopotamian scene. He,
     though a
scribe, had the requisite geni-
     us to 
pen** Gilgamesh. Though no genie
     would ap-
pear, Gil,*** Enkidu,**** and meanie
     bad Hum-
baba,***** his principal three, nea-
     tly suf-
ficed for Sin-Leqi-Unnini --
     although 
not for Doyle's Adler (Irene).****** 
     ****** Several alternate last lines, appearing in various mss, are extant. Here are ten: 
(1) "...not so for Mother Cabrini." 
(2) "...not Benvenuto Cellini." 
(3) "...not G. Lorenzo Bernini." 
(4) "...not Federico Fellini." 
(5) "...not for TV's 'Time for Beany.'" 
(6) "...not so for James Gandolfini." 
(7) "... not for now dead Seamus Heaney." 
(8) "...not for that bastard Dick Cheney." 
(9) "...not so for 'I Dream of Jeannie.'" 
(10) "...not for the Trib's 'Teenie Weenie.'" 
Anybody aware of lines not listed here is urged to contact the editors.

     Not un-
pleasant to know: Serafini*… 
     * Luigi Serafini  

     Not un-
pleasant to know: Smithe-Magee,* 
     nor's that
blog he calls "Plays Well With Letters," 
     wherein's 
fashioned much verse ABC
     which bur-
lesques les bon mots of his betters. 
     Dare to 
download this doggerel key,
     thus un-
fastening psyche-forged fetters
     so dis-
paraged by N. Smithe-Magee,
     who shouts, 
"All musketeers -- ALL -- shall get the'rs!"
     * Sgt. N. (“Jim”)  Smithe-Magee (the N stands for 'Nonsense')

(i)

     Not un-
pleasant to know? Stevie Smith,
    who was 
nicknamed -- though not christened -- Stevie. 
     That she 
was christened so? Merely myth
     spread by 
George Orwell. Who could believe he
     might at 
all "thtutter thumething like thith"?
     Such as-
sertions would seem so-o-o-o pet-peavey
     to the 
sadly eccentric Ms. Smith.
     (Glenda 
Jackson played Stevie -- on TV.)

(ii)

     Not un-
pleasant to know: Stevie Smith,
     a past 
mistress of serio-clowning.
     Though Ms. 
Smith's no poetical Sith*,
     she was 
found more than frequently frowning.
     She, when 
quizzed, "Where's your pulp? Where's your pith?"
     might re-
spond, "Not at Number 10 Downing" --
     might the 
variegated Ms. Smith,
     self-con-
fessed as "not waving but drowning."

     Not un-
pleasant to know: Dave Sedaris.* 
     Every 
word David's heard while in Paris  
     ('ligne 
claire' is one; one 'debonnaire' is; 
     one is 
'pere', one the nom 'Moliere' is;
     'c'est la 
gare's one, another 'ma mere' is): 
     put to
use fast and loose by Sedaris -- 
     though he'd
never endeavor to 'mbarrass.
     * David Sedaris

     Not un-
pleasant to know: Dr. Swift.* 
     I quite
like him, though’d not wish to've been him.
     Dr. 
Swift grants to humans short shrift,
     i.e., 
hates 'em -- preferring the Houyhnhnm. 
     Though of
Travels he's made us a gift,
     hold on,
mate, please to wait just one minim:
     although
pleasant to know, Doctor Swift
    fails to
undo the Yahoo within him.
     * Jonathan Swift

     Not un-
pleasant to know? Mr. Sellers...* 
     * Peter Sellers 

     Not un-
pleasant to know? Mr Secombe...*
     * Harry Secombe

     Not un-
pleasant to know: Mr. Snicket…
     * Lemony Snicket

     Not un-
pleasant to know: E. Satie,* 
     who com-
posed his Gymnopedies three.
     In his 
first, the subdominant G
     sounds, re-
ciprocally, with the D. 
     Orches-
trations? By Claude Debussy.
    Once, when 
visiting Erik's crib, he**
    hung a-
round, dug Sat's sound, and took tea.
     They, though 
flawed, suited Claude to a T --
     all but 
"Two": he preferred "One" and "Three"
     so he 
skipped "Number Two"***: c'est la vie!" 
     As for 
pleasant-to-know M Satie,
     he dug 
minimalism...like me!)
     * Eric Satie

     Not un-
pleasant to know: Mr. Sandberg...* 
     * Carl Sandberg

     Not un- 
pleasant to know: Mr. Sterne...* 
     * Laurence Sterne 

     Not un- 
pleasant to know: Gertrude Stein,
     who bought
art, but just top of the line
     paintings --
upwards of seventy-nine.
     (Gert's Pi-
cassos? Especially fine.
     His "The 
Architect's Table"? Divine!).
     But Gert's
poetry? Less than benign,
     like when
pleasant-to-know Gertrude Stein
     penned, "Blush
wine be blush wine be blush wine..."*

     * Here the editor offers his own riff on a famous Stein line -- one he apparently misremembers as "A rosé is a rosé is a rosé." 

     Not un-
pleasant to know: Mr. Sokol...* 
     * Alan Sokol