Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, LETTERS TO YESENIN: 23, by JAMES HARRISON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

LETTERS TO YESENIN: 23, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: I want to bother you with some recent nonsense; a classmate dropped
Last Line: Ropes.
Alternate Author Name(s): Harrison, Jim
Subject(s): Death; Imaginary Conversations; Poetry & Poets; Yesenin, Sergei (1895-1925); Dead, The


I want to bother you with some recent nonsense; a classmate dropped dead, his
heart was attacked at thirty-three. At the crematory they lowered his body by
fire-resistant titanium cables reminding one of the steak on a neglected
barbecue grill, only more so. We're not supposed to believe that the vase of
ashes is the real him. You can imagine the mighty roar of the gas jets, a train
coming closer, the soul of thunder. But this is only old hat, or old death,
whichever. "Pause here, son of sorrow, remember death," someone once said. "We
can't have all things here to please us, our little Sue Ann is gone to Jesus,"
reads an Alabama gravestone. But maybe even Robert Frost or Charles Olson don't
know they are dead. That would include you of course. It is no quantity,
absolute zero, the air in a hole minus its airiness, the vacuum from the passing
bird or bullet, the end of the stem where the peach was, the place above the
ground where the barn burned with such energy we plugged our ears. If not, show
yourself in ten minutes. Let's settle this issue because I feel badly today: a
sense that my teeth and body are rotting on the hoof. I could avoid the whole
thing with a few drinks - it's been over eight hours - but I want to face it
like Simon Magus or poor Faustus. Nothing, however, presents itself other than
that fading picture of my sister with an engine in her lap, not a very
encouraging item to be sure. I took Anna who is two for her first swim today.
We didn't know we were going swimming so she wore a pink dress, standing in the
lake up to her waist in wonderment. The gaucheries of children, the way they
love birds and neon lights, kill snakes and eat sand. But I decided I wanted to
go swimming for the first time and wanted to make love for the first time again.
These thoughts can make you unhappy. Perhaps if your old dog had been in the
apartment that night you wouldn't have done it. Everything's so fragile except
ropes.





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