summaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/4756.txt
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
Diffstat (limited to '4756.txt')
-rw-r--r--4756.txt1131
1 files changed, 1131 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/4756.txt b/4756.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..902e8ac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/4756.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,1131 @@
+Project Gutenberg's The Love Sonnets of a Hoodlum, by Wallace Irwin
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Love Sonnets of a Hoodlum
+
+Author: Wallace Irwin
+
+Posting Date: September 4, 2009 [EBook #4756]
+Release Date: December, 2003
+First Posted: March 12, 2002
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LOVE SONNETS OF A HOODLUM ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David A. Schwan. HTML version by Al Haines.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+The Love Sonnets of a Hoodlum
+
+
+by
+
+Wallace Irwin
+
+
+
+ With an Introduction by
+ Gelett Burgess
+
+
+
+ Showing how Vanity is still on Deck,
+ & humble Virtue gets it in the Neck!
+
+
+
+ "A Leaden Heart I wear since she forsook me."
+
+
+
+
+The Love Sonnets of a Hoodlum
+
+
+
+Introduction
+
+
+
+ "Tell me, ye muses, what hath former ages
+ Now left succeeding times to play upon,
+ And what remains unthought on by those sages
+ Where a new muse may try her pinion?"
+
+So Complained Phineas Fletcher in his Purple Island as long ago as 1633.
+Three centuries have brought to the development of lyric passion no
+higher form than that of the sonnet cycle. The sonnet has been likened
+to an exquisite crystal goblet that holds one sublimely inspired thought
+so perfectly that not another drop can be added without overflow. Cast
+in the early Italian Renaissance by Dante, Petrarch and Camoens, it was
+chased and ornamented during the Elizabethan period by Shakespere, and
+filled with its most stimulating draughts of song and love during the
+Victorian era by Rossetti, Browning and Meredith. And now, in this first
+year of the new century, the historic cup is refilled and tossed off in
+a radiant toast to Erato by Wallace Irwin.
+
+The attribute of modernity is not given to every new age. The cogs in
+the wheels of time slip back, at times. The classic revival may be
+permeated with enthusiasm, but it is a second edition of an old
+work--not a virile essay at expression of living thought. The later
+Renaissance was but half modern in its spirit; the classic period of the
+eighteenth century in England was half ancient in its mood. But the
+twentieth century breaks with a new promise of emancipation to English
+Literature, for a new influence has freshened the blood of conventional
+style that in the decadence of the End of the Century had grown dilute.
+This adjuvant strain is found in the enthusiasm of Slang. Slowly its
+rhetorical power has won foothold in the language. It has won many a
+verb and substantive, it has conquered idiom and diction, and now it is
+strong enough to assault the very syntax of our Anglo-Saxon tongue.[*]
+
+
+[*] Note, for instance, the potential mood used indicatively in the
+current colloquial, "Wouldn't that jar you!"
+
+
+Slang, the illegitimate sister of Poetry, makes with her a common cause
+against the utilitarian economy of Prose. They both stand for lavish
+luxuriance in trope and involution, for floriation and adornment of
+thought. It is their boast to make two words bloom where one grew
+before. Both garb themselves in Metaphor, and the only complaint of the
+captious can be that whereas Poetry follows the accepted style, Slang
+dresses her thought to suit herself in fantastic and bizarre caprices,
+that her whims are unstable and too often in bad taste.
+
+But this odium given to Slang by superficial minds is undeserved. In
+other days, before the language was crystallized into the idiom and
+verbiage of the doctrinaire, prose, too, was untrammeled. Indeed, a
+cursory glance at the Elizabethan poets discloses a kinship with the
+rebellious fancies of our modern colloquial talk. Mr. Irwin's sonnets
+may be taken as an indication of this revolt, and how nearly they
+approach the incisive phrases of the seventeenth century may easily be
+shown in a few exemplars. For instance, in Sonnet XX, "You're the real
+tan bark!" we have a close parallel in Johnson's Volpone, or The Fox:
+
+ "Fellows of outside and mere bark!"
+
+And this instance is an equally good illustration also of that curious
+process which, in the English language, has in time created for a single
+word ("cleave," for instance) two exactly opposite meanings. A line from
+John Webster's Appius and Virginia might be cited as showing how near
+his diction approached modern slang:
+
+ "My most neat and cunning orator, whose tongue is quicksilver;"
+
+and, for an analogy similar, though elaborate, compare lines 5-8 in
+Sonnet XI. In Beaumont and Fletcher's Philaster,
+
+ "A pernicious petticoat prince"
+
+is as close to "Mame's dress-suit belle" of No. VII as modern costume
+allows, and
+
+ "No, you scarab!"
+
+from Ben Jonson's Alchemist gives a curious clue to the derivation of
+the popular term "scab" found in No. VI. Webster's forcible picture in
+The White Devil--
+
+ "Fate is a spaniel; we cannot beat it from us!"
+
+finds a rival in Mr. Irwin's strong simile--"O Fate, thou art a
+lobster!" in No. IV. And, to conclude, since such similarities might be
+quoted without end, note this exclamation from Beaumont and Fletcher's
+Woman's Prize, written before the name of the insect had achieved the
+infamy now fastened upon it by the British Matron:
+
+ "These are bug's words!"
+
+Not only does this evidently point out the origin of "Jim-jam bugs" in
+No. IX, and the better known modern synonym for brain, "bug-house," but
+it indicates the arbitrary tendency of all language to create gradations
+of caste in parts of speech. It is to this mysterious influence by which
+some words become "elegant" or "poetic," and others "coarse" or
+"unrefined," that we owe the contempt in which slang is held by the
+superficial Philistine.
+
+In Mr. Irwin's sonnet cycle, however, we have slang idealized, or as
+perhaps one might better say, sublimated. Evolution in the argot of the
+streets works by a process of substitution. A phrase of two terms goes
+through a system of permutation before it is discarded or adopted into
+authorized metaphor. "To take the cake," for instance, a figure from the
+cake-walk of the negroes, becomes to "capture" or "corral" the "bun" or
+"biscuit." Nor is this all, for in the higher forms of slang the idea is
+paraphrased in the most elaborate verbiage, an involution so intricate
+that, without a knowledge of the intervening steps, the meaning is often
+almost wholly lost. Specimens of this cryptology are found in many of
+Mr. Irwin's sonnets, notably in No. V:
+
+ "My syncopated con-talk no avail."
+
+We trace these synonyms through "rag-time," etc., to an almost
+subliminal thought--an adjective resembling "verisimilitudinarious,"
+perhaps, qualifying the "con" or confidential talk that proved useless
+to bring Mame back to his devotion.
+
+In the masterly couplet closing the sestet of No. XVIII, Mr. Irwin's
+verbal enthusiasm reaches its highest mark in an ultra-Meredithian
+rendition of "I am an easy mark," an expression, by the way, which would
+itself have to be elaborately translated in any English edition.
+
+Enough of the glamors of Mr. Irwin's dulcet vagaries. He will stand,
+perhaps as the chief apostle of the hyperconcrete. With Mr. Ade as the
+head of the school, and insistent upon the didactic value of slang, Mr.
+Irwin presents in this cycle no mean claims to eminence in the truly
+lyric vein. Let us turn to a contemplation of his more modest hero.
+
+I have attempted in vain to identify him, the "Willie" of these sonnets.
+The police court records of San Francisco abound in characters from
+which Mr. Irwin's conception of this pyrotechnically garrulous Hoodlum
+might have been drawn, and even his death from cigarette-smoking,
+prognosticated in No. XXII, does not sufficiently identify him. Whoever
+he was, he was a type of the latter-day lover, instinct with that
+self-analysis and consciousness of the dramatic value of his emotion
+that has reached even the lower classes. The sequence of the sonnets
+clearly indicates the progress of his love affair with Mary, a heroine
+who has, in common with the heroines of previous sonnet cycles, Laura,
+Stella and Beatricia, only this, that she inspired her lover to an
+eloquence that might have been better spent orally upon the object of
+his affections. Even the author's scorn does not prevent the reader from
+indulging in a surreptitious sympathy with the flamboyant coquetry of
+his "peacherino," his "Paris Pansy." For she, too, was of the caste of
+the articulate; did she not
+
+ "Cough up loops of kindergarten chin?"
+
+and could we hear Mame's side of the quarrel, no doubt our Hoodlum
+would be convicted by every reader. But Kid Murphy, the pusillanimous
+rival, was even less worthy of the superb Amazon who bore him to the
+altar. "See how that Murphy cake-walks in his pride!" is the
+cri-du-coeur the gentlest reader must inevitably render.
+
+But "the Peach crops come and go," as Mr. George Ade so eloquently
+observes. We must not take our hero's gloomy threats too seriously.
+There are other babies on the bunch, and no doubt he is, long ere this,
+consoled with a "neater, sweeter maiden" to whom his Muse will sing
+again a happier refrain. In this hope we close his dainty introspections
+and await his next burst of song!
+
+Gelett Burgess.
+
+San Francisco, Nov. 1, 1901
+
+
+
+
+
+
+An Inside Con to Refined Guys
+
+
+ Let me down easy, reader, say!
+ Don't run the bluff that you are on,
+ Or proudly scoff at every toff
+ Who rattles off a rag-time con.
+
+ Get next to how the French Villon,
+ Before Jack Hangman yanked him high,
+ Quilled slangy guff and Frenchy stuff
+ And kicked up rough the same as I.
+
+ And Byron, Herrick, Burns, forby,
+ Got gay with Erato, much the same
+ As I now do to show to you
+ The way into the Hall of Fame.
+
+
+
+
+Prologue
+
+
+ Wouldn't it jar you, wouldn't it make you sore
+ To see the poet, when the goods play out,
+ Crawl off of poor old Pegasus and tout
+ His skate to two-step sonnets off galore?
+ Then, when the plug, a dead one, can no more
+ Shake rag-time than a biscuit, right about
+ The poem-butcher turns with gleeful shout
+ And sends a batch of sonnets to the store.
+
+ The sonnet is a very easy mark,
+ A James P. Dandy as a carry-all
+ For brain-fag wrecks who want to keep it dark
+ Just why their crop of thinks is running small.
+ On the low down, dear Maine, my looty loo,
+ That's why I've cooked this batch of rhymes for you.
+
+
+
+ I
+
+
+ Say, will she treat me white, or throw me down,
+ Give me the glassy glare, or welcome hand,
+ Shovel me dirt, or treat me on the grand,
+ Knife me, or make me think I own the town?
+ Will she be on the level, do me brown,
+ Or will she jolt me lightly on the sand,
+ Leaving poor Willie froze to beat the band,
+ Limp as your grandma's Mother Hubbard gown?
+
+ I do not know, nor do I give a whoop,
+ But this I know: if she is so inclined
+ She can come play with me on our back stoop,
+ Even in office hours, I do not mind--
+ In fact I know I'm nice and good and ready
+ To get an option on her as my steady.
+
+
+
+ II
+
+
+ On the dead level I am sore of heart,
+ For nifty Mame has frosted me complete,
+ Since ten o'clock, G. M., when on the street
+ I saw my lightning finish from the start.
+ O goo-goo eye, how glassy gazed thou art
+ To freeze my spinach solid when we meet,
+ And keep thy Willie on the anxious seat
+ Like a bum Dago on an apple cart!
+
+ Is it because my pants fit much too soon,
+ Or that my hand-me-down is out of style,
+ That thou dost turn me under when I spoon,
+ Nor hand me hothouse beauties with a smile?
+ If that's the case, next week I'll scorch the line
+ Clad in a shell I'll buy of Cohenstein.
+
+
+
+ III
+
+
+ As follows is the make-up I shall buy,
+ Next week, when from the boss I pull my pay:--
+ A white and yellow zig-zag cutaway,
+ A sunset-colored vest and purple tie,
+ A shirt for vaudeville and something fly
+ In gunboat shoes and half-hose on the gay.
+ I'll get some green shoe-laces, by the way,
+ And a straw lid to set 'em stepping high.
+
+ Then shall I shine and be the great main squeeze,
+ The warm gazook, the only on the bunch,
+ The Oklahoma wonder, the whole cheese,
+ The baby with the Honolulu hunch--
+ That will bring Mame to time--I should say yes!
+ Ain't my dough good as Murphy's? Well, I guess!
+
+
+
+ IV
+
+
+ O fate, thou art a lobster, but not dead!
+ Silently dost thou grab, e'en as the cop
+ Nabs the poor hobo, sneaking from a shop
+ With some rich geezer's tile upon his head.
+ By thy fake propositions are we led
+ To get quite chesty, when it's buff! kerflop!!
+ We take a tumble and the cog-wheels stop,
+ Leaving the patient seeing stars in bed.
+
+ So was I swatted, for I could not draw
+ My last week's pay. I got the dinky dink.
+ No more I see the husk in dreams I saw,
+ And Mame is mine some more, I do not think.
+ I know my rival, and it makes me sore--
+ 'Tis Murphy, night clerk in McCann's drug store.
+
+
+
+ V
+
+
+ Last night--ah, yesternight--I flagged my queen
+ Steering for Grunsky's ice-cream joint full sail!
+ I up and braced her, breezy as a gale,
+ And she was the all-rightest ever seen.
+ Just then Brick Murphy butted in between,
+ Rushing my funny song-and-dance to jail,
+ My syncopated con-talk no avail,
+ For Murphy was the only nectarine.
+
+ This is a sample of the hand I get
+ When I am playing more than solitaire,
+ Showing how I become the slowest yet
+ When it's a case of razors in the air,
+ And competition knocks me off creation
+ Like a gin-fountain smashed by Carrie Nation.
+
+
+
+ VI
+
+
+ See how that Murphy cake-walks in his pride,
+ That brick-topped Murphy, fourteen-dollar jay;
+ You'd think he'd leased the sidewalk by the way
+ He takes up half a yard on either side!
+ I'm wise his diamond ring's a cut-glass snide,
+ His overcoat is rented by the day,
+ But still no kick is coming yet from Mae
+ When Murphy cuts the cake so very wide.
+
+ Rubber, thou scab! Don't throw on so much spaniel!
+ Say, are there any more at home like you?
+ You're not the only lion after Daniel,
+ You're not the only oyster in the stew.
+ Get next, you pawn-shop sport! Come oft the fence
+ Before I make you look like thirty cents!
+
+
+
+ VII
+
+
+ Mayhap you think I cinched my little job
+ When I made meat of Mamie's dress-suit belle.
+ If that's your hunch you don't know how the swell
+ Can put it on the plain, unfinished slob
+ Who lacks the kiss-me war paint of the snob
+ And can't make good inside a giddy shell;
+ Wherefore the reason I am fain to tell
+ The slump that caused me this melodious sob.
+
+ For when I pushed Brick Murphy to the rope
+ Mame manned the ambulance and dragged him in,
+ Massaged his lamps with fragrant drug store dope
+ And coughed up loops of kindergarten chin;
+ She sprang a come back, piped for the patrol,
+ Then threw a glance that tommyhawked my soul.
+
+
+
+ VIII
+
+
+ I sometimes think that I am not so good,
+ That there are foxier, warmer babes than I,
+ That Fate has given me the calm go-by
+ And my long suit is sawing mother's wood.
+ Then would I duck from under if I could,
+ Catch the hog special on the jump, and fly
+ To some Goat Island planned by destiny
+ For dubs and has-beens and that solemn brood.
+
+ But spite of bug-wheels in my cocoa tree,
+ The trade in lager beer is still a-humming,
+ A schooner can be purchased for a V
+ Or even grafted if you're fierce at bumming.
+ My finish then less clearly do I see,
+ For lo! I have another think a-coming.
+
+
+
+ IX
+
+
+ Last night I tumbled off the water cart--
+ It was a peacherino of a drunk;
+ I put the cocktail market on the punk
+ And tore up all the sidewalks from the start.
+ The package that I carried was a tart
+ That beat Vesuvius out for sizz and spunk,
+ And when they put me in my little bunk
+ You couldn't tell my jag and me apart.
+
+ Oh! would I were the ice man for a space,
+ Then might I cool this red-hot cocoanut,
+ Corral the jim-jam bugs that madly race
+ Around the eaves that from my forehead jut--
+ Or will a carpenter please come instead
+ And build a picket fence around my head?
+
+
+
+ X
+
+
+ As one who with his landlord stands deuce high
+ And blocks his board bill off with I O U's,
+ Touching the barkeep lightly for his booze,
+ Sidestepping when a creditor goes by,
+ Soaking his mother's watch-chain on the sly,
+ Haply his ticker, too, haply his shoes,
+ Till Mr. Johnson comes to turn him loose
+ And lift the mortgage from that poor cheap guy;
+
+ So am I now small change in Mamie's scorn,
+ A microbe's egg, or two-bits in a fog,
+ A first cornet that cannot toot a horn,
+ A Waterbury watch that's slipped a cog;
+ For when her make-up's twisted to a frown,
+ What can I but go 'way back and sit down?
+
+
+
+ XI
+
+
+ O scaly Mame to give me such a deal,
+ To hand me such a bunch when I was true!
+ You played me double and you knew it, too,
+ Nor cared a wad of gum how I would feel.
+ Can you not see that Murphy's handy spiel
+ Is cheap balloon juice of a Blarney brew,
+ A phonograph where all he has to do
+ Is give the crank a twist and let 'er reel?
+
+ Nay, love has put your optics on the bum,
+ To you are Murphy's gold bricks all O. K.;
+ His talks go down however rank they come,
+ For he has got you going, fairy fay.
+ Ah, well! In that I'm in the box with you,
+ For love has got poor Willie groggy, too.
+
+
+
+ XII
+
+
+ Life is a combination hard to buck,
+ A proposition difficult to beat,
+ E'en though you get there Zaza with both feet,
+ In forty flickers, it's the same hard luck,
+ And you are up against it nip and tuck,
+ Shanghaied without a steady place to eat,
+ Guyed by the very copper on your beat
+ Who lays to jug you when you run amuck.
+
+ O Life! you give Yours Truly quite a pain.
+ On the T square I do not like your style;
+ For you are playing favorites again
+ And you have got me handicapped a mile.
+ Avaunt, false Life, with all your pride and pelf:
+ Go take a running jump and chase yourself!
+
+
+
+ XIII
+
+
+ If I were smooth as eels and slick as soap,
+ A baked-wind expert, jolly with my clack,
+ Gally enough to ask my money back
+ Before the steerer feeds me knock-out dope,
+ Still might I throw a duck-fit in my hope
+ That I possessed a headpiece like a tack
+ To get my Mamie in my private sack
+ Ere she could flag some Handsome Hank and slope.
+
+ What ho! she bumps! My wish avails me not,
+ My work is coarse and Mame is onto me;
+ So am I never Johnny-on-the-spot
+ When any wooden Siwash ought to be.
+ Thus I get busy working up a grouch
+ Whenever heartless Mame harpoons me--ouch!
+
+
+
+ XIV
+
+
+ O mommer! wasn't Mame a looty toot
+ Last night when at the Rainbow Social Club
+ She did the bunny hug with every scrub
+ From Hogan's Alley to the Dutchman's Boot,
+ While little Willie, like a plug-eared mute,
+ Papered the wall and helped absorb the grub,
+ Played nest-egg with the benches like a dub
+ When hot society was easy fruit!
+
+ Am I a turnip? On the strict Q. T.,
+ When do my Trilbys get so ossified?
+ Why am I minus when it's up to me
+ To brace my Paris Pansy for a glide?
+ Once more my hoodoo's thrown the game and scored
+ A flock of zeros on my tally-board.
+
+
+
+ XV
+
+
+ Nixie! I'm not canned chicken till I'm cooked,
+ And hope still rooms in this pneumatic chest,
+ While something's doing underneath my vest
+ That makes me think I'm squiffier than I looked.
+ Mayhap Love knew my class when I was booked
+ As one shade speedier than second best
+ To knock the previous records galley west,
+ While short-end suckers on my bait were hooked.
+
+ Mayhap--I give it up--but this I know:
+ When I saw Mamie on the line today
+ She turned her happy searchlights on me so,
+ And grinned so like a living picture--say,
+ If a real lady threw you such a chunk,
+ Could n't she pack her Raglan in your trunk?
+
+
+
+ XVI
+
+
+ Oh, for a fist to push a fancy quill!
+ A Lover's Handy Letter Writer, too,
+ To help me polish off this billy doo
+ So it can jolly Mame and make a kill,
+ Coax her to think that I'm no gilded pill,
+ But rather the unadulterated goo.
+ Below I give a sample of the brew
+ I've manufactured in my thinking mill:
+
+ "Gum Drop:--Your tanglefoot has got my game,
+ I'm stuck so tight you cannot shake your catch;
+ It's cruelty to insects--honest, Mame,--
+ So won't you join me in a tie-up match?
+ If you'll talk business I'm your lemon pie.
+ Please answer and relieve
+
+ An Anxious Guy."
+
+
+
+ XVII
+
+
+ Woman, you are indeed a false alarm;
+ You offer trips to heaven at tourist's rates
+ And publish fairy tales about the dates
+ You're going to keep (not meaning any harm),
+ Then get some poor old Rube fresh from the farm,
+ As graceful as a kangaroo on skates,
+ Trying to transfer at the Pearly Gates--
+ For instance, note this jolt that smashed the charm:--
+
+ "P.S.--You are all right, but you won't do.
+ You may be up a hundred in the shade,
+ But there are cripples livelier than you,
+ And my man Murphy's strictly union-made.
+ You are a bargain, but it seems a shame
+ That you should drink so much.
+ Yours truly,
+ Mame."
+
+
+
+ XVIII
+
+
+ Last night I dreamed a passing dotty dream--
+ I thought the cards were coming all my way,
+ That I could shut and open things all day
+ While Mame and I were getting thick as cream,
+ And starred as an amalgamated team
+ In a cigar-box flat across the bay--
+ Just then the alarm clock blew to pieces. Say,
+ Wouldn't that jam you? I should rather scream.
+
+ Sleep, like a bunco artist, rubbed it in,
+ Sold me his ten-cent oil stocks, though he knew
+ It was a Kosher trick to take the tin
+ When I was such an easy thing to do;
+ For any centenarian can see
+ To ring a bull's-eye when he shoots at me.
+
+
+
+ XIX
+
+
+ A pardon if too much I chew the rag,
+ But say, it's getting rubbed in good and deep,
+ And I have reached the limit where I weep
+ As easy as a sentimental jag.
+ My soul is quite a worn and frazzled rag,
+ My life is damaged goods, my price is cheap,
+ And I am such a snap I dare not peep
+ Lest some should read the price-mark on my tag.
+
+ The more my sourballed murmur, since I've seen
+ A Sunday picnic car on Market Street,
+ Full of assorted sports, each with his queen--
+ And chewing pepsin on the forninst seat
+ Were Mame and Murphy, diked to suit the part,
+ And clinching fins in public, heart-to-heart.
+
+
+
+ XX
+
+
+ Forget it? Well, just watch me try to shake
+ The memory of that four-bit Scheutzen Park,
+ Where Sunday picnics boil from dawn till dark
+ And you tie down the Flossie you can take,
+ If you don't mind man-handling and can make
+ A prize rough house to jolly up the lark,
+ To show the ladies you're the whole tan-bark,
+ And leave a blaze of fireworks in your wake.
+
+ 'Twas there before the Rainbow Club that Mame
+ Bawled herself out as Murphy's finansay
+ And all the chronic glad hand-claspers came
+ To copper invites for the wedding day;
+ And when the jocund day threw up the sponge
+ Murphy was billed to take the fatal plunge.
+
+
+
+ XXI
+
+
+ At noon today Murphy and Mame were tied.
+ A gospel huckster did the referee,
+ And all the Drug Clerks Union loped to see
+ The queen of Minnie Street become a bride,
+ And that bad actor, Murphy, by her side,
+ Standing where Yours Despondent ought to be.
+ I went to hang a smile in front of me,
+ But weeps were in my glimmers when I tried.
+
+ The pastor murmured, "Two and two make one,"
+ And slipped a sixteen K on Mamie's grab;
+ And when the game was tied and all was done
+ The guests shied footwear at the bridal cab,
+ And Murphy's little gilt-roofed brother Jim
+ Snickered, "She's left her happy home for him."
+
+
+
+ XXII
+
+
+ Still joy is rubbernecking on the street,
+ Still hikes the Mags' parade at five o'clock,
+ Still does the masher march around the block
+ Pining in vain some hothouse plant to meet;
+ Still does the rounder pull your leg to treat,
+ Where flows the whisky sour or russet bock,
+ And the store clothing dummies in a flock
+ Keep good and busy following their feet.
+
+ Rats! cut this out; for I'm a last year's champ;
+ Into the old bone orchard am I blowing,
+ So with the late lamented let me camp,
+ My walkers to the graveyard daisies toeing,
+ And shaking this too upish generation,
+ Pass checks through cigarette asphyxiation.
+
+
+
+ Epilogue
+
+
+ To just one girl I've tuned my sad bazoo,
+ Stringing my pipe-dream off as it occurred,
+ And as I've tipped the straight talk every word,
+ If you don't like it you know what to do.
+ Perhaps you think I've handed out to you
+ An idle jest, a touch-me-not, absurd
+ As any sky-blue-pink canary bird,
+ Billed for a record season at the Zoo.
+
+ If that's your guess you'll have to guess again,
+ For thus I fizzled in a burst of glory,
+ And this rhythmatic side-show doth contain
+ The sum and substance of my hard-luck story,
+ Showing how Vanity is still on deck
+ And Humble Virtue gets it in the neck.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Love Sonnets of a Hoodlum, by Wallace Irwin
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LOVE SONNETS OF A HOODLUM ***
+
+***** This file should be named 4756.txt or 4756.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+ https://www.gutenberg.org/4/7/5/4756/
+
+Produced by David A. Schwan. HTML version by Al Haines.
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+https://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
+paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works. See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+ the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+ you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is
+ owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+ has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+ Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments
+ must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+ prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+ returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+ sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+ address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+ the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+ you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+ does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+ License. You must require such a user to return or
+ destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+ and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+ Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+ money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+ electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+ of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+ distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at https://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+ Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+ Chief Executive and Director
+ gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit https://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
+donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+ https://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.