A Poem, By Henry Gibson

I still have a post to make about some more lovely quilt squares, and I will do that later today. But I just saw in the news that Henry Gibson died this week.  And I am a little sad about that, and so I wanted to make mention of him.

Now, you probably don’t know who Henry Gibson is — unless you are a Laugh In fan. (He did many, many more things, but character actors tend not to be as name-recognizable as your pretty Hollywood stars.)

But if you know Laugh In, then when I say “A poem, by Henry Gibson”, you will know exactly who I am talking about.

So in his memory, here’s one of his poems, that I had on a big poster on my wall all through high school and university. It got lost by my father when I moved to Japan. I have always missed it since.

It’s Not the Same Without Pelicans

It’s not the same without pelicans, you know?
I mean, dinosaurs… Well, they’re too big to miss…
And besides, it was their own fault.
But we all grew up with pelicans!
I hope the ducks hold out.

I hope they bury Mr. Gibson holding a big flower.