Ogden Nash was one of the most popular American poets of the twentieth century, but he became famous by doing something unusual: breaking the rules on purpose. Nash, who passed away on May 19, 1971, was known for his humorous short poems that played with language in surprising ways. He would deliberately misspell words to create unexpected rhymes. In one famous poem, he rhymed "parsley" with "gharsley" -- a made-up spelling of "ghastly" -- just to make the joke work. His poems were often only two or four lines long. Despite their brevity, they packed clever observations about everyday life. He wrote about food, animals, children, and the small frustrations that everyone experiences. One of his most quoted lines is: "Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker." Nash published over twenty books of poetry during his career. His work appeared in The New Yorker magazine for decades, reaching millions of readers who might never have opened a traditional poetry book. Critics sometimes dismissed his writing as lightweight, but Nash proved that humor is a legitimate form of art. His poems showed that breaking the rules of language -- when done skillfully -- can reveal truths that serious poetry sometimes misses.