What Kind of Poem Would Ginsberg's Birthday Card Have?

Beat poet Allen Ginsberg was born on this day in 1926. Ginsberg wrote the poem "Howl," one of his best known works and Daria's reading material of choice at the Better Days Nursing Home:

Daria: I hope you like poetry.

Mrs. Patterson: Oh, yes. My favorite birthday cards are the ones with poems in them.

Daria: "I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness. Starving, hysterical, naked. Dragging themselves through the negro streets of dawn...."

(time passes)

Daria: "...the soul is innocent and immortal. It should never die ungodly, in an armed madhouse--"

(Mrs. Patterson presses call button)

Nurse: Mrs. Patterson, can I get you something?

Mrs. Patterson: Get me my walker. And then hit her with it!

New Fanfic!

A Round Robin, An Epistolary Story, is going on in the Creative Writing forum. Take a look, and add your own entry!


• Daria, or the Confession of a Single Lonely Male, by Arena del Sur: "Had Helen been Mercedes, I would have known how to 'handle' the situation; and 'handle' is the word that suited me fine. In the good old days, by merely twisting Mecha's brittle thumb (the one she had fallen upon from a motorbike) I could make her change her mind instantly. But anything of the sort in regard to Helen was unthinkable. Legal Lioness Helen frightened me."


• Daria Vs. Old Betsy & The Five Avengers, by RX-87 (part 4): "A dark shadow loomed over Helga and the girl nearly had a panic attack as she saw another gigantic whale, this one floating in the air. This one looked more normal, as normal as anything she had seen since those awful monsters appeared, and after a moment, the creature had passed harmlessly overhead at a leisurely pace. This in stark contrast to the yellow and violet giant that came barreling up to her like a freight train, faster than anything that size had any right to."


• God Save The Esteem Ep31: Achy Jakey Heart, by Charles RB (part 2): "'If… if there is damage, then how do we prevent it happening again?' 'That all depends. I hope you don't mind the question, but is there anything in his diet or lifestyle or his attitude that might have-' 'Do you want the full list?' asked Daria. 'If we do it in daily instalments, you should have time to go home at night.'"


• Mad Dog's Legacy Chapter 9: Hard Time, by Hyrin (part 4): "'So, you're here to take out Daria?' she asked, her voice polite but her eyes glinting like obsidian. 'Yes, ma'am, her and Jane' Mack said, remembering some advice Jane had given him in homeroom: Don't lie. She can smell it like suck on the Spiral. And don't show fear. It only encourages her." (Part 5)


• Not So Different 35: Confrontations, by J-D (COMPLETE!): "And when his father wheezed that he couldn't feel his arm, Sonny was instantly riveted. He could feel his face making an uncontrolled response. 'Dad?' he said, in unfamiliar tones. His father fell face forward into the guacamole. That got Quinn's attention. 'Daddy?' she said, and her voice too had changed. And when Helen turned round and saw what had happened, she dropped the phone. It wasn't welded to her after all. 'Jakey!'"


• Not So Different 36: Odd Couple Pecking Order, by J-D (COMPLETE!): "The money was missing. It wasn't in his backpack. It wasn't in the glove compartment either. There was only one place it could be: with Travis. This revelation proved to be the introduction to another installment of that long-running program, 'Confessions! with Quinn Morgendorffer'."


• Reunion, by Hyrin (part 5): "Jane chuckled sarcastically. 'We have an argument that probably wounded the nurses, and you bring me your own book as a peace offering?' Daria found herself chuckling at the absurdity of the notion. 'Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time,' she said with a small grin."


• Rude Awakening Ep. 6: Divas NOT Wanted!, by DIsaac (parts 1 and 2): "JODIE: OK............Well.... have you heard from Sandi recently? JANE: Nothing over here. DARIA: Nothing here except she finally left Channel 5. JODIE: She will be landing here as News Director and WHUB's newest overnight DJ! JANE: AW GEEZSH! NOT THIS CRAP AGAIN! Jodie, stop hiring our Lawndale High classmates. DARIA: Because the IQ around here is low enough as it is." (Part 2)


• Searching For a New Hope, by thatLONERchick: "There were low, but heated, voices coming from the kitchen along with the clinking of glass on glass. Daria clenched her jaw and dropped her bag on a handy couch. 'How long's she been at it, Quinn?' The younger girl bit her lip, eyes tired in her somber face. 'Since she woke up. She's on her third bottle.'" (SFMB)


• Size Does Matter, by BlackHole: "Her mother was still engrossed in her papers, and Daria’s patience was wearing thin. She put her mug on the table. Yeah, and pigs fly. OK, then bombs away. 'Have you heard that constant ignoring of teenagers by their parents correlates with a significant increase in teenage pregnancies?' 'Hmmmmm... ... ... WHAT?!?! WHAT ARE YOU...'" (SFMB)


• Though the Years Part Us.... (Iron Chef: Guys and Guys), by thatLONERchick (COMPLETE!): "The men eyed each other across the candle flame, more nervous than they were each letting on. It had been a few years since last they had seen one another; a chance meeting at a gas station, a few minutes' smalltalk ending up as a twenty-minute conversation. Laughing about how stupid they had been in their high school days, reminiscing about games won, lamenting loves lost."


• Unnamed story (Iron Chef: TAKE OUT TRENT LANE!), by 45Ranger (COMPLETE!): "'Yeah?' He paused listening to the voice he didn't recognize. 'Well I have some business to take care of first... Really? Well then I guess I'll meet you first. Where?” (Pause) ”Fine, I'll see you there.' An evil sneer comes to his face as he closes the phone and puts it in his pocket. Trent, my man, looks like you'll get to both of those bitches quicker than you thought."


• Unnamed story (Scenes no Daria fanfic should have: It's Friday!!), by Charles RB (COMPLETE!): "Panel 5. The Legion of Lawndale Heroes recoil from the sight of "Daria's" face - burnt, scarred, not what it's supposed to be... TOM: M! Y-Your- SANDI: EWWWWWW!! That is SO gross, I, like, can't BUH-LEEVE you showed us that. "DARIA": Not a pretty sight, is it? I better put on a FACE...." (Continued by Roentgen here)


• Unnamed story (Scenes no Daria fanfic should have: It's Friday!!), by Chris Tucker (COMPLETE! ): "It's a bright, cheery morning as Daria Morgendorffer LEAPS from bed, a huge cheerful smile on her expressive face."


• Unnamed story (Totally randomly wrote up this thing...), by Kael Seoras: "She woke up to the total absense of everything. She looked all around her, and saw no light whatsoever. She did not feel as if she was falling, but she felt no ground beneath her. There was absolutely nothing."


• Well 'Ard (Scenes no Daria fanfic should have: It's Friday!!), by Charles RB (COMPLETE!): "'I have finally discovered why Kevin, despite being Kevin, keeps getting girls,' said Daria, her face and voice grim. 'It took 24/7 surveillence, breaking and entering into his house, dressing up as a cheerleader when Kevin was really drink, and even talking to him, but I've found it out: Kevin, you see, is medically incapable of ejaculating.'"