Life — March 16, 1922 — page 5: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Paging Saint Patrick" by Dorothy Parker This satirical poem by Dorothy Parker humorously invokes Saint Patrick to address modern New York City problems. The illustration depicts Saint Patrick (upper left, driving out snakes) contrasted with contemporary urban chaos below—a crowded street scene with well-dressed pedestrians and visible serpents among them. The satire suggests that just as the historical Saint Patrick expelled snakes from Ireland, modern New York needs similar divine intervention to eliminate its own "snakes"—likely referring to urban vice, corruption, or social problems of the Jazz Age. The poem's tone is wry: while Saint Patrick was wise and great, he couldn't manage the messy realities of modern city life with its constant social obligations ("tea and jazz"). Parker laments that such miraculous interventions are now impossible to arrange.