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“I eat my peas with honey;
I’ve done it all my life.
It makes the peas taste funny,
But it keeps them on the knife.”
“I Eat my Peas with Honey” is a well-known nursery rhyme whose original author is unknown. However, it’s often accredited to Ogden Nash (1902-1971) as Nash was known for his nonsense poetry. He wrote things like:
“Who wants my jellyfish? I’m not a sellyfish.”
And
“Why did the Lord give us agility, If not to evade responsibility?”
When faced with absurdities, the brain doesn’t shut down. Instead, the brain tries to understand by animating cognitive systems hoping to make sense out of nonsense. It’s a survival mechanism. But when absurdity and reality become entangled, you will only go crazy if you try to find logic where logic doesn’t exist.
In all my life, I have never experienced living in such an absurd and spooky time. It’s as if everyday logic has been outlawed and exiled. So what to do?
When everyday logic doesn’t work, it’s time to get silly. And that’s my intention for today.
Related:
I Eat My Peas with Honey at Poetry Foundation + What Is a Nonsense Poem? Definition and Key Examples + 10 of the Best Ogden Nash Poems Everyone Should Read +
The Neuroscience of Gibberish: Making Sense of Nonsense (Even when comprehension seems impossible, your brain treats gibberish seriously, investing resources in extracting possible sense from the senseless)+
The Importance of Nonsense +
Nash considered himself a “worsifier.” Among his best known lines are “Candy / Is dandy, / But liquor / Is quicker” and “If called by a panther / Don’t anther.” His poems also had an intensely anti-establishment quality that resounded with many Americans, particularly during the Depression. +
