Pogo

After posting my Mellow Yellow Monday, I discovered that a great many of my readers have never heard of Pogo the Possum, Walt Kelly's wonderful little cartoon character. I guess you're all too young. In my Mellow Yellow, I posted a picture of a campaign button with his picture, declaring "I Go Pogo". (He was running for President at the time.)

Walt Kelly (1913-1973) was a very clever man. His cartoons ran in newspapers all over the country, and were compiled into many books. My oldest daughter, Ruth found the campaign button and a couple of the books, including Pogo's Body Politic, for me on line some time ago. The Forward for Body Politic was written by Jimmy Breslin, who speaks of "...the buffoonery of people trying to look solemn and important who were actually out doing evil things." This is what Mr. Kelly's cartoons were about, and he handled it so well in his whimsical, wonderful way, through Pogo the Possum and Albert Alligator, and Churchy La Femme the turtle, and Porkypine, and the bear called P.T.Bridgeport, and so many other inhabitants of Okefenokee Swamp.

If you are among those unfamiliar with Pogo, you might enjoy visiting him on his website: http://www.pogopossum.com/. Or you could Google him or Walt Kelly. The cartoons are not all political. I have always loved the Christmas ones, for instance. But he does make politics kind of fun. I do enjoy the Women's Lib parade, out to teach those uncouth men a thing or two about couthity. And when someone wants to know why they don't "throw the rascals out", the question is raised, "Why doesn't anybody think of that before they throw the rascals in?"

But Pogo's most famous quote of all probably is, "We has met the enemy, and they is us."