Monday, November 06, 2006

Paterson: Book Four, Chapter III, p. 193















Another Letter from A.G.

Dear Doctor:

I'm writing to you because you
have forgotten something
{break}
I found it, walking the streets
nearest the River today
{break}
Do you know the Bourse,
Doctor? Of course
{break}
You know your town
as if it were you, sir -
{break}
that is to say:
anatomically

{break}

But that sound that reaches
from the Manufactory
{break}
all the way down the channels
of streets to the very City Square
{break}
Dear God, the River, and the
sound of it
{break}
I wonder if you have grown used
to that which does not howl
{break}
as the Falls here
are wont to

{break}

I found the pubs, you know
the ones: off Mill and River Sts.
{break}
Godwin's is the place I
most move about these days
{break}
Quiet, as I'm sure
you know it is quiet, but
{break}
This past Wednesday, as
I walked the Bourse to
{break}
Mill, I saw a man
drunk and hanging out
{break}
over a balcony, tip-
ping in a chair, al-
{break}
most falling as the reek-
ing smell of propane
{break}
leaking from a pipe or
stove somewhere in-
{break}
side his house seeped
out from the cracks and the
{break}
drains of the place, flow-
ing down the narrows
{break}
of the alley, reach-
ing out to me and pour-
{break}
ing into me until I could
taste it, on the back
{break}
of my throat, thick but
sweet almond-gas swill
{break}
of it, ah, even as
I moved on and past
{break}
down the street
to my home

{break}

Watching this man sway,
Doctor,
{break}
I thought of you, of
what I found that was once
{break}
yours. But the water is
running, Doctor, and I'm off
{break}
to find what you found
in it at the start.
{break}
I hope this letter finds you well,
Doctor. What you lost is not
{break}
enclosed. But you will find it
if you run.

A.G.


1 comment:

brd said...

This is another out of the park piece. I feel a little of Prufrock, and a little of Camus' picture of the man on the balcony from the Plague.

The rhythm from "I found the pubs" through "to my home" is incredibly driving, to the point that it is physical. Very nice. Very nice indeed.