Otto
An editor for J. B. Lippincott Company, GEORGE STEVENS divides his time between Philadelphia and New York, and has contributed to our Accent on Living pages in the past.
by GEORGE STEVENS
IN CONSEQUENCE of events too complex to trace here, I recently came into possession of the private papers of an obscure contemporary literary figure, and was given full discretion regarding what to offer for publication and what to withhold. Most of the papers are fragmentary and quite without interest (except to psychiatrists: some of them do provide a clue to the unfortunate writer’s present whereabouts and how he comes to be there). To spare the feelings of the writer’s family — the poor man himself is past caring — I shall conceal his identity. He may appropriately be called Otto.
The text which follows is one of the few which Otto came close to finishing. No doubt he intended to put the introductory notes into acceptable grammatical form, but they are clear enough as they stand. And the body of the material is obviously in no need of retouching, though there is no telling how much Otto might have added if he had remained in possession of his faculties, such as they were.
Here it is.
“Why are there so few palindromes? Madam, I’m Adam. Eve a palindrome herself. Able was I ere I saw Elba. Not many others well known. Once saw a honey in the New York Herald Tribune: ‘Knight, I ask nary rank, sailh gink.’ Deserves preservation. Wish I could reconstruct another from same source; contained word ‘trolley’; can’t recover it, damn. Do recall, however, from Time letters to editor column, years ago: ‘Live on, Time; emit no evil.’ Contributed by a clergyman.
“Speaking of Time, remember immortal sentence in Wolcott Gibbs s parody; ‘Backward ran sentences until reeled the mind.’ Try in reverse: ‘Reeled the mind until backward ran sentences.’ Can’t beat that to describe process of palindrome construction. Anyhow better think about collecting mine, now if ever. All flesh is grass. The iceman cometh.
“If I try to publish these things, better explain not intended to mean what they say. One or two inadvertently suggestive of prejudice in sensitive quarters, but too good to suppress. Caveat emptor. Honi soit. A palindrome should not mean, but be.
“Stop! Murder us not, tonsured rumpots!
Wets demand a lad named Stew.
Norah’s foes order red rose of Sharon.
No cab, martyr? Try tram. — Bacon.
Sums are never even. — Erasmus.
Red now on level; no wonder,
Semite, be glib, erupt pure bilge betimes.
Draw nine men in ward.
l’a’s mistress asserts I’m sap.
Shahs reign at Tangier. Shahs.
Eve saw diamond; no maid was Eve.
Revolt, lover!
A urses run.
Sue us!
Eros Roman? Amor sore.
Snug satraps eye Sparta’s guns.
Madame, not one man is selfless. I
name not one, madam.
Egad, an adage! (Was a saw.)
O, render gnostic illicit song, red Nero!
Serves no salad, alas, on Sevres.
Sages use gas.
A slut nixes sex in Tulsa.
Delia ailed.
Diana can aid.
I’d revel in Nile. — Verdi. (Si, si, Isis!)
Yale don sees no delay.
Bosses sob.
Dora tosses sot a rod.
Deb noted a cadet on bed.
Top step Sara’s pet spot.
Emil, asleep, peels a lime.
Max: I stay away at. six A.M.
Yo! Bottoms up, U. S. motto, Boy!
Those are all that Otto seems to have finished. Elsewhere in his effects, on old envelopes for instance, I found fragments which he evidently intended to develop. “Diaper repaid.”“ Dairyman a myriad. “Too far afoot.” “Lion in oil.” “Made Edam.” “SOS.” “Wow!” Lots of others, but especially attempts to fill in that lost palindrome containing “trolley.” He never got anywhere with it. Or, I am afraid, on it.