Thoughts of a cockroach
Patrick Skene Catling
THE ARCHY AND MEHITABEL OMNIBUS by Don Marquis Faber, f9.99, pp. 311 newspaper columnists as their columns show often have a hell of a time filling up space so don marquis was lucky when he had the brainwave of getting his sun dial column in the new york post in the nineteentwenties filled like this by a cockroach called archy archy wrote column after column explaining expression is the need of my soul i was once a very libre bard but i died and my soul went into the body of a cockroach so he wrote when the office was empty at night by hurling himself head downward onto the keys of don marquiss manual typewriter thus because he couldnt manage capitals and punctuation his poetry somewhat resembled that of his greenwich village neighbour e e cummings at that time according to marquis free verse began to commend itself to the multitudes because it looked as if it would be so easy to write but to archy it wasnt a mere gimmick it was the perfect medium for fulminating on the drawbacks of contemporary civilisation and mores and speakeasy philosophy as viewed from a place dangerously low on the food chain archys vision was stereoscopic for he had the benefit of the testimony of mehitabel an indomitable alley cat who claimed her previous incarnations were within the persons of cleopatra and other lively ladies i have had my ups and downs she said yesterday sceptres and crowns fried oysters and velvet gowns and today i herd with bums but theres nothing i really regret theres dance in the old dame yet toujours gai toujours gai even though her grasp of french was imperfect archy had a way with words when apostrophising a mummified pharaoh he concocted many an elegant variation viz my regal leatherface old tan and tarry my reverend juicelessness etc expressing archys sympathy with those who thirsted during the years of prohibition e b white praised the work of archy as follows
it is funny it is wise it is tender
and it is tough i say everybody who appreciates literature at its zingiest should possess this book.
`Perhaps if your portfolio wasn't so diverse you wouldn't have to spend all day checking it.'
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