Greetings, Friends!

[captainsblog]

If I had to pick just one dinner guest for That Five People You Want To Meet meme, or carry along the works of a single author for the Desert Island Bookshelf, I don't think I could go wrong with Roger Angell as my choice. He shares two of my biggest lifelong loves- of the Mets (in his case that fandom equalling the lifespan of the entire team), and of writing (since he's the spiritual, if not the literal, heir apparent to his stepfather E.B. White and to the best traditions of the New Yorker).

Every year that I can remember, he's graced the year-end edition of my favorite magazine with a piece of poetry titled, simply, "Greetings, Friends," in which he riffs on the events of the recent past but also pays homage to as many names- from politics, popular culture, and occasionally oddity- as he can work into the one-page, two-column format allotted the effort. You can read the current year's incarnation here, in which current heroes Michelle Obama, Michael Phelps and LeBron James share stanzas with the obscure (David Carr), the shamed (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) and the just plain random (Esa-Pekka Salonen?!).

Since Roger's not coming to dinner anytime soon, and since I'm bloody unlikely to wind up on a desert island any sooner, the closest I can come to his fame is to give it the finest form of flattery- by imitating it.  You, the regular readers of this page, are incredibly dear to me, and I don't always repay that debt of dearness through regular links or comments. So, let me offer what little I can to the lot of youse- a "Greetings, Friends" of my own, in which I shall endeavor to express my thanks, love and gratitude to each and every Friendslister, by real name, lj_name, or perhaps even both.

Forgive the worst of the puns, the cheapest of rhymes, and any breaks in the necessary tetrameter. And Merry Christmas to all!


All across the blogosphere,
Our wishes go to there from here,
To fellow writers, dreamers all,
Who brighten days from spring through fall.
I've never tried to ape Angell
Before on this, my Special Hell,
But owing to my love of youse
I'll hack away, despite much booze.

I must begin by self-berating
For birthday wishes, now Be Lating,
To girlyduck and shinuhana
Even though I really wanna
Send them off to Sara, too
And Jeff, her affianced- from New-
Foundland, that northernmost of clime,
But safe in Philly at this time.

Said lawyer dude, canadiandiamond,
Is joined in my Canuckish rhymin'
Bymissffit and by la_rainette,
And Commonwealthers further yet-
From Linda's furthest Aussie home
To UK subjects, names to come
In my ensuing piece of verse
(Can poetry get any worse?)

My Brit friends ply me happily
With tales of Who and HIGNIFY,
Their pantos and their fancy dinners
(All "just five minutes from this cinema").
Those descriptions never fail
To bring me home to Maida Vale.
Elaine  uC,  tQ, and Mel
Are most beloved- can't you tell?

A few I know and love here are
Residing further still afar.
My listing skills would be amiss if
I didn't send props to Karissa
Or Emilie or sis gnine-
Two more among the Japanese.
The map says they're all far away,
But words from far off make them stay.

In reaching to such distant venues,
There's no intent to clear the menus
Of Friends who live real close to here-
Each one of them is just as dear
(And just a local call away)
Like luckycee or thatyousay.
Or Jenn or her cool mother Lynn-
And wherever graphicrage has been.

The other corners of this state
Bring LJ musings just as great-
From Capitaland, where Vicker's dreams
Mix with Ceetar's, from Valley Stream.
Yet each day brings posts from some grrls
In the greatest city in the world:
The words from Lins, and mayiwrite's,
And beekm's- daily happy sights.

A box of hat-tips goes, as well,
To good old friends from AOL
Once "triviots", perhaps that still,
Their words here now provide my fill-
There's hanncoll, hedjie, bowlingpenguin,
But topping all I have to mention
My best of Friends, who keeps me sane:
tinnabelle, half of my brain.

The other blogs to which I'm partial
Must count musings from glenmarshall-
And through that Friendship, double back
To daily smiles from one jblaque.
A few post just occasionally,
Like afineline and siercia,
But what they give is quality
And always is a joy to see.

A few have fallen off the wagon
And wondering about them causes agon-y
That isn't all that bad
(That was a rhyme I had to had)-
But shout-outs go to them, as well:
To niece Nicole, and to Michele,
To Annie, Scott and to Vicky-
And redroad and rwp.

A few here make up halves of pairs-
Like tweeti and her drbear
Or atticus_rex's legal pairin'
With a brilliant lady named miss_katelynne
Yet muchest love from me is meant
For the quiet gentledissident
And his best of halves, who has to be
The sweetness that is elbiesee.

Some Friends I just associate
With skills or times of special greatness.
Like platypus's Pic-a-Days
Or Becky's frequent thrift forays.
There's symian's films- in plain sight, hid-
And lindapendant's brilliant kid.
Or erinpuff's future graduate course,
Or why_a_duck's tales of tail of horse.

While speaking of the equestrian:
We're in the "home stretch," this refrain.
There's several who I love the most
That I must name before hitting "post."
There's Kristen, Kristin, liddle_oldman,
meredith_mae and  doubtful_salmon,
And all'yall from Tennessee,
Terri and bluesilverkdg.

Friend-ship covers all the sexes-
West Coast Dan'l , monpais in Texas.
Her fellow northern  namesake Lisa, 
HER Fellow Who-Fan jeanne_dark? Can't miss.
Methodism would be scary
Without a pastor named revmary,
And LJ wouldn't be the same
Without katesti (despite the new name).

We're heading for the finish line
Just ten more names- we're doing fine!
There's dedoc's and diannelamerc's-
Both Friends of Mel's- why not, that works!
Anne and Ang and snowy_owlet,
Graham (and fam)- I don't know how
I'd end this piece without dear Sarah,
Or our princesskraehe Kara.

mabfan's book and galateadia's
Baby wrap up this last stanza.
Both came forth in this past year
And brightened many mornings here.
If someone's miffed or if you think
I've screwed up spelling or a link
Just let me know- I'll fix it here
By 2009- a great New Year!

Comments

[luckycee.livejournal.com]

Brilliant! You have great talent there, Ray. Merry Christmas to you and yours!

[drbear.livejournal.com]

I've done this for my paper a couple of times, and it's very VERY hard to do well. You've done well. Thanks from both of us for the mention.

[hedjie.livejournal.com]

Most excellent job, and a fabulous day to you, dear!

[thanatos-kalos.livejournal.com]

Happy Xmas!

[whyaduck.livejournal.com]

Bravo!

[thatyousay.livejournal.com]

Merry Christmas, you're so creative great job!

[headbanger118.livejournal.com]

I LOVED it! Although I didn't know everyone, I thoroughly enjoyed watching you place the names in perfect rhythmic verse. Anyone who can rhyme Tennessee without using the phrase "gotta pee" is aces.

[bellavaruka.livejournal.com]

I'm behind on my flist so just read this. Belatedly, Merry CHristmas and a Happy New year to YOU. Thanks for the shout-out. ^__^ Yay new President... it'll be a better year already having that. :)