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Naming The Baby
- The University of Akron Press
- Chapter
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73 naming the baby Everything is used up, everything is used up, everything is consumed by History Thirsty and hungry History, there is no such thing any more as the oasis of the baby And we are prevented from starting anything anew or afresh. Why else dear friends is it so difficult to name this baby today, to identify this human leaf of Eden, which we pray one day may arise, to join the tree of people Why else are all children born wrinkled? Byron will write many poems, then sink in the sea Harrison is overly fond of tweed Vladimir and Otto will compose electronic music Jean-Luc will make movies Oswald will shoot the president Nikita’s head is a knob Rudolph has a red nose, or a concentration camp Adolf will have an inscrutable fondness for Bavaria Arthur enjoys round tables Cedric will smother his uncle Harvey thinks he’s a rabbit Felix will have a little high-pitched voice and show a marked preference for milk Albert will promulgate the theory of relativity While Phineas will purchase the circus Estes will appear on television, heading a committee to investigate crime Cliff will hurt his head by falling off some rocks While Geronimo will also always be jumping off or out of things with a cry Phil will develop an excessive fondness for fried finches Pablo will spend all day up in his room thinking and painting Rembrandt will always be borrowing money You’ll never catch Babe at home since he’ll always be out in lots with a bat and ball 74 Clark will fall in love with somebody named “Lois.” A second possibility is starring in movies. Percy Bysshe will always strike some people as extreme W. B. will write great verses which suffer initially from soft surfaces W. H. will write great verses, suffering finally from hard surfaces T. S. will write great verses, but stop writing them too soon Mick will wear tight trousers and walk around whispering Donovan will dunk doughnuts and get drunk Franklin will have a four-term presidency, and then a cerebral hemorrhage While Peter, Paul, and Mary will walk around all day eating immaculately conceived candy bars Errol will always err While Michael will accomplish much with regard to expanding our ideas of structure, despite criticism from the poetically stultified, dumb, and entrenched No no don’t ask me about possible names for this baby All I can suggest is that we call him Time; for one thing is certain: surely Time must be born again ...