[PW] Re: Poem Quest

[Dennis Lien]

At 04:25 PM 12/1/2006, you wrote:


>Could the spelling be Desaulniers, Gonzalve, poet and judge? 1863-1934.
>One of the founders of the Montreal literary school and a lyric and
>nature poet of note. He was the author of two volumes of poetry, "Pour
>la France" 1918, and "Les Bois qui Chantent" 1930.  -- Encyclopedia
>Canadiana
>
>I've never heard of this poet and don't know if he published in English.
>The poem mentioned just reeks of William Henry Drummond's work, which
>was mostly dialect verse, though I've no recollection of this particular
>poem.
>
>Hopes this sets someone off in the right direction.
>
>Merv
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: project-wombat-open-bounces at lists.project-wombat.org
>[mailto:project-wombat-open-bounces at lists.project-wombat.org] On Behalf
>Of Ellen Dark
>Sent: Friday, December 01, 2006 4:32 PM
>To: list at project-wombat.org
>Subject: [PW] Poem Quest
>
>A patron is looking for a poem, or a collection of poems, by Armsell
>Desualt (sp?), a French-Canadian poet.  The poem contains the following
>lines:
>
>I go me once to baseball game,
>I laugh & din some more,
>It was in New York on the day,
>She played with Baltimore.
>
>The patron read the poem in a hard cover book in the 1950s.
>
>We've looked in Granger's (up to the 10th edition), the Canadian
>Encyclopedia, the Oxford Companion to Canadian History and Literature,
>and Poets of Canada, so far to no avail.  We've also googled and
>yahoo!ed it too.
>
>Thank you for any help you can provide.
>
>Sincerely,
>
>Ellen Dark MLS


I thought I remembered this poem having come up in Stumpers before,
but after some googling and peeking at cached replies, I found that
I was remembering "Da Gretta Basaball" by cod-Italian-American dialect
poem T. A. Daly instead.  On the chance that your patron might also
like that, here it is (apologies for klutzed formatting):

DA GREATA BASABALL by T. A. Daly

Oh! greata game is basaball For yo'nga 'Merican. But, oh! my fran, ees not 
at all Da theeng for Dagoman.

Oh! lees'en pleass', I tal to you About wan game we play W'en grass ees 
green, an' sky ees blue An' eet ees holiday. Spaghatti say: "We taka teep 
For play da ball, an' see Which side ees ween de champasheep For Leetla 
EEtaly." So off for Polo Groun' we go Weeth basaball an' bat, An' start da 
greata game, but, Oh! Eet ees no feenish yat! Spolatro ees da boss for side 
Dat wait for catch da ball; Spagatti nine ees first dat tried For knock eet 
over wall. An' so Spagatti com' for bat. Aha! da greata man! Da han's he 
got, so beeg, so fat, Ees like two bonch banan'. Spolatro peetch da ball, 
an' dere Spagatti's bat ees sweeng. An' queeck da ball up een da air Ees 
fly like anytheeng. You know een deesa game ees man Dat's call da 
"lafta'fiel'." Wal, dees wan keep peanutta-stan' An' like for seeting 
steel. An' dough dees ball Spagatti heet Ees passa be hees way, He don'ta 
care a leetla beet Eef eet ees gon' all day. Da "centra-fielda man"--you 
know Dat's nex' to heem--he call; "Hi! why you don'ta jompa, Joe, An' run 
an' gat da ball?" But Joe he justa seeta steel Teel ball ees outa sight. 
Does mak' so mad da centra-fiel' He ees baygeen to fight. Den com'sa nudder 
man--you see, I don'ta know hees name, Or how you call dees man, but he Ees 
beeg man een da game. He ees da man dat mak' da rule For play da gama 
right, An' so he go for dose two fool Out een da fiel' dat fight. He push 
da centra-fielda 'way-- An' soocha names he call!-- An' den he grabba Joe 
an' say; "Com', run an' gat da ball." But Joe he growl an' tal heem; "No, 
Ees not for me at all. Spagatti heet da ball, an' so Spagatti gat da ball!"

*******

Dennis Lien / U of Minnesota Libraries // d-lien at umn.edu