Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


LETTERS TO YESENIN: 3 by JAMES HARRISON

Poet Analysis

First Line: I WANTED TO FEEL EXALTED SO I PICKED UP
Last Line: STOP.
Subject(s): MARTYRS; REGRET; RUSSIA; SUICIDE; YESENIN, SERGEI (1895-1925); SOVIET UNION; RUSSIANS;

I wanted to feel exalted so I picked up @3Dr. Zhivago@1 again. But the
newspaper was there with the horrors of the Olympics, those dead and perpetually
martyred sons of David. I want to present all Israelis with .357 magnums so
that they are never to be martyred again. I wanted to be exalted so I picked up
@3Dr. Zhivago@1 again but the TV was on with a movie about the sufferings of
convicts in the early history of Australia. But then the movie was over and the
level of the bourbon bottle was dropping and I still wanted to be exalted lying
there with the book on my chest. I recalled Moscow but I could not place dear
Yuri, only you Yesenin, seeing the Kremlin glitter and ripple like Asia. And
when drunk you appeared as some Bakst stage drawing, a slain Tartar. But that
is all ballet. And what a dance you had kicking your legs from the rope -- We
all change our minds, Berryman said in Minnesota halfway down the river. Villon
said of the rope that my neck will feel the weight of my ass. But I wanted to
feel exalted again and read the poems at the end of @3Dr. Zhivago@1 and just
barely made it. Suicide. Beauty takes my courage away this cold autumn
evening. My year-old daughter's red robe hangs from the doorknob shouting
@3Stop@1.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net