Be VERY Afraid

[Bugzita]

Now that we have exhausted our discourse on Kim Addonizio's "professional princess" line, do we have any other "first lines" we could mince through the foetry blender?

Yeah, yeah, I started this thread way back in June 2005, one of my boldest first acts on this forum.

Bug

[Ed Dupree]

Good suggestion Bugz.

A first line I've always loved is from Larkin's "Church Going":

   Once I am sure there's nothing going on,  

(And the second line is:

    I step inside, letting the door thud shut.)


I love the way the first line hooks me--I'm sure as hell "going on" to the second, to find out about this nothing. Also love the way the line points back to "Going" in the title, putting "nothing" in place of "church" and playing with implicit variants of the two phrases: "Church, Going"; "nothing, going on."
 

Modest-sounding lines, not much razzle-dazzle, but very lively with meanings.

Ed

[michael white]

yeah, well, Larkin's openings are often unforgettable.
"The Old Fools," for instance: "What do they think has happened,the old fools,/ to make them like this? Do they somehow suppose . . ." Or, of course, if you really want to discuss Larkin line 1/line 2 combos, there's that other opening, probably his most-quoted of all, from "This Be The Verse": "They fuck you up, your mum and dad./They may not mean to, but they do."

mw