Kenneth Rexroth: Proust's Madeleine

[silent-claws.livejournal.com]

I just remembered, after posting Rexroth's translations, that I'd heard his name before...

Proust's Madeleine

Somebody has given my
Baby daughter a box of
Old poker chips to play with.
Today she hands me one while
I am sitting with my tired
Brain at my desk. It is red.
On it is a picture of
An elk's head and the letters
B.P.O.E.—a chip from
A small town Elks' Club. I flip
It idly in the air and
Catch it and do a coin trick
To amuse my little girl.
Suddenly everything slips aside.
I see my father
Doing the very same thing,
Whistling ``Beautiful Dreamer,''
His breath smelling richly
Of whiskey and cigars. I can
Hear him coming home drunk
From the Elks' Club in Elkhart
Indiana, bumping the
Chairs in the dark. I can see
Him dying of cirrhosis
Of the liver and stomach
Ulcers and pneumonia,
Or, as he said on his deathbed, of
Crooked cards and straight whiskey,
Slow horses and fast women.

Kenneth Rexroth

Comments

[sunflower-pixie.livejournal.com]

it's funny that you posted this today because in bakebakebake someone made madeleines and quoted proust :)

[sunflower-pixie.livejournal.com]

and somehow i managed to forget to include the link to the entry (http://community.livejournal.com/bakebakebake/749090.html) i mentioned above. um, duh! :)

[silent-claws.livejournal.com]

:/ I thought I could get away with not having read Proust, and consequently not knowing what the title meta-refers to... :) Care to explain? (Also those cookies look delicious)

[girl-in-blue.livejournal.com]

rexroth is another totally under-rated poet. he was incredibly famous in his own time (ginsberg et al. were huge fans and very influenced by him) but seems to have disappeared. such a shame.

[fragrantsoul.livejournal.com]

great poem. thanks

[speckofinfinity.livejournal.com]

Oh, I like this. Thanks for posting. =)