[1747] Untitled

I wish I could drink like a lady
I can take one or two at the most
Three and I'm under the table
Four and I'm under the host

    -- Dorothy Parker

If we were going to have a theme about drinks in general, this one certainly
deserves mention. This poem is typical of Dorothy Parker's aesthetic --
crisp lines, to be meant for the dead-pan delivery of the truly blasé with
very little room for emotion or the pretence thereof. She makes no apology
for the love of her drink or for the consequences of binging on it. She
merely states the outcomes with the cold preciseness of a scientist, or, at
the very least, of an urban realist.

Decadent, self-aware and witty, Dorothy Parker's elite Manhattan social
circle included playwright George Kaufman and New Yorker founder Harold
Ross. They held many of their meetings at the Algonquin Hotel in New York,
which now offers a $10,000 martini, presumably in her honor. The Algonquin
also has this ode on all their napkins, in fond memory of their
distinguished patron.

Sandeep

[Martin adds]

Wikiquotes at least lists this as "attributed" to Dorothy Parker - does
anyone know for sure? It definitely sounds like authentic Parker to me.

martin

[this poem is archived, accessible and awaiting your comments at]
http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/1745.html
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From: "assiniboine" <assiniboine1@>

Well indeed. But did my little offering as to Emily Dickinson go astray or
was it deemed unacceptable? I am entirely OK with that, be it said, though
possibly mildly embarrassed!

From: "Jessica K. Schnell" <jks26@>

clever!