In Celebration of National Poetry Month

Here are two views of T.S. Eliot and a limerick. The first Eliot I did for the Wash Post Book World in the late 80s. Actually, this one wasn't used; I rejected this drawing and did a second one that, though almost identical (not shown), was somehow better to my eye and turned that one in along with a companion illustration of G.B. Shaw (and I sold 'em both to Michael Dirda of the Post for like, really cheap). But I kept this one I'd rejected. Now I'm not sure what's wrong with this Eliot. Maybe he doesn't look enough like a ventriloquist's dummy, or the nostril isn't sufficiently ornate.

The second, lower Eliot is from a great book called The Holy Tango of Literature by Francis Heaney that I illustrated back in two thousand and aught four. And the limerick I wrote because it was fun.

Though donnish and quite dignified,
Tom Eliot once versified,
On the greenish-tiled wall
Of a men's restroom stall,
He signed it and then flushed with pride.