My Nonsense Is Tingling

Food: Southern country captain chicken

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Audio: A recording of Leonard Nimoy reading it on Internet Archive.

Text: A PDF version.

Next, an excellent (abridged, but excellent) audio adaptation for the classic 1950’s radio program, X Minus One. It’s a great show in general, and a fine way to get introduced to the sci-fi greats of old, including those forgotten over time. Interestingly, the date is changed to 1985 rather than 2026, maybe in the hopes of instilling a greater sense of urgency to the listeners.

Finally, while the story’s title and content both directly reference a poem by Sara Teasdale, it’s worth knowing the context of the poem itself. It was written in 1918, during World War I and the pandemic then (misleadingly) known as the Spanish Flu. It was also the year that Congress made it a criminal offense to criticize the government during wartime, so Teasdale had to obscure the anti-war message.