[y66]

Nobody Loves You

by Ramon Montaigne

Once I lived a life of some renown,
People looked up to me in this town
They listened to what I had to say.
I was very well-regarded at Bud's cafe.
Then one dark day they passed a law: no smoking, zero, nada.
And I became persona non grata.
Now I go out on the sidewalk to take a drag
Me and the homeless lady with the garbage bag.

Ginger Rogers smoked and so did Fred Astaire,
Clark Gable and Cary Grant.
And nowadays you simply can't.
People don't want elegance. They want Clean Air.
Me and Bogey and Ernie Hemingway,
Huck Finn, Woody Guthrie, Prince Andre,
Members of a noble, fatalist elite,
Forced to stand out on the street.
One cold day I was talking to Chopin,
Who was shivering, smoking a cigarette. Turkish.
Is this a decent way to treat a man
Who wrote those magnificent mazurkas?

Reprinted with permission of the author at The Writer's Almanac.

[PassedOut]

Yep, some folks sure have it tough!

An Unusually Candid Interview with Mitt Romney

Quote

Q: What do you see as the biggest challenge of your campaign going forward?

A: Well, I suppose the biggest challenge would be the same one I’ve faced all my life: that no one likes me. But as I’ve found in the past, money usually takes care of that.