October 19 - Karl-Birger Blomdahl; Jennifer Holliday (The Musical Birthday Series)

Karl-Birger Blomdahl (19 October 1916 – 14 June 1968) was one of the first Swedish composers to explore modernist techniques such as serialism and electronics.

Land of the Midnight Sun

Aniara, an opera in space,

Sounds fun, but it isn’t the case.

Dystopian gloom

Envelops the room

With the end of the whole human race.  

♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪  

Jennifer Holliday (b. 19 October 1960) is a successful singer and actress especially known for her work on Broadway.

A double dactyl is a biographically inspired humorous poem with very strict structural rules.   

Here are links to two definitions for those who are curious.  The first from the  

Poetry Foundation is clearer but less accurate than the second, from Wikipedia.  Take 

your pick.  The classic statement is the book Jiggery-Pokery:  A Compendium of 

Double Dactyls by Anthony Hecht and John Hollander (New York, 1967).

Double Dactyl for JH

Higgledy-piggledy

Jennifer Holiday,

Belting her song about

How she would stay,

Gathered a following,

Hagiographical,

Zealously lip-synching,

Ardent and gay.

 

 

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