E. B. White

 On this day in 1899  E. B. White was born.

In a letter to the poet Philip Booth, Mr. White said that a good poem is

like an anchovy: it makes you want another right away and pretty soon

the tin is empty and you have a bellyache or a small bone caught in your

throat or both.

Makes me smile! (and if you're a poet) you wish you might be as true 

and clever and original as Mr. White.

        Now why place an Agapanthus (Lily of the Nile) right in the middle
       of good stuff about E. B. White. Well, our sidewalks are leaning with
       an abundance of these flowers  and one can hardly get by without
       knocking the neck out of them. And I have another little story about
       our New Yorker essayist, which has to do with sidewalks and a comment
       from one of his friends.

               I trust that you will spare the reading public 

          your little adventures in sidewalk contentment. 

       With deep gratitude to E.B. White for all his stories.