There are-- some of the mimeographed ones are
rather long and I guess now I want to try to do these.
I'll point out, though since you have
them what I was trying to do a poem like "Decline and Fall"--
Oh, all right, one long one.
"Decline and Fall" is a love poem
in terms of the fall of the Roman Empire.
It has a kind a doubleness of meaning.
It was written in Rome when I was very aware
of the ruins about the city and it seemed to me
that this imagery served very well as imagery
for a love that also went to pieces, that fell into ruins.
And so what about a relationship between two people
and everything has a kind of double meaning in the poem.
From the title on I guess.
"We had a city also hand in hand, wandered, happy
as travelers our own land.
Murmured in turn the hearsay of each stone
or where a legend faltered lived our own.
The far seen obelisk, my father set.
Spinning two roads forever where they met way of this
in wandering circles turned our Tread
where once more less engulfed that passionate head.
Cornice rose and Rangers rose so high.
It saw no sky that forum, but noon sky.
Marble shone like shallows.
Columns too streamed with cool light as rocks and breakers do.
All marble many colored as reach of thought tones so recollected
and so distraught.
Golden like swimmers when the August shore brightens
their folklore poses more and more or gray with silver.
Moons swirling spell over the breathless
our lives we knew well.
Every shoulders there that summer dressed curve to come,
curved to come shyly naked then find rest.
The tresses love disheveled leaning dazed and grateful
or the wayward stone that blazed his cheeks do
or as eyes hath lowered flare.
Violet as veins are, love knows where.
Fine coral as the shy and wild tongue tip, undersea coral rich
has inner lip.
There was a stone to build on.
Phrases ran and strong corals that where they closed begin.
And statues each rang our ringing phrase
in the souls passionate cadence of her days.
Oh stone so matched and massive worked so well.
Who could believe it when the first brick fell?
Who could imagine the unlucky word with dark into the world
wide sigh we heard?
How our eyes wrenched together and held fast each face
tightening to a chalky cast?
So poor a copy of one hour before."
I think this was too long in here.
I'm going to skip to that division.
I think these lines ought to be cut to soon the barbarians.
"Soon the barbarians swarmed like locusts
blown between the flood and spasm of our stone grunted
to tug their huts and marble sties where phrases broke
like foam in the blue skies.
Blue noses poked, recoiling as they
found our young and gladite statues underground.
Singing salvation, the lewd chisel peck said boy and girl
one mutilated sex.
All our high moments cheapened, greed and grime
charred them and rickety studies to quick lime.
Murderous world.
That town that seemed as star rows
in our soul and there the ruins are.
Will not walk there again.
Who would wish to walk where the rats gather
and gray tourist talk?
Who'd walk there even alive or a bit as ghost trail phosphor
on the melancholy coast?"
I think there's some others that have this same kind of sort
of double effect.
At least that's what was aimed at in the poems.