The Absurd Man by Major Jackson

Author:Major Jackson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: 2019-12-23T16:00:00+00:00

URBAN RENEWAL

To work and create “for nothing,” . . . to know that one’s creation has no future . . . this is the difficult wisdom that absurd thought sanctions. Performing these two tasks simultaneously, negating on the one hand and magnifying on the other, is the way open to the absurd creator. He must give the void its colors.

—The Myth of Sisyphus, Albert Camus

xxvi

WASHINGTON SQUARE

When all that cautions the eyes toward the imminent

slide of autumn to arctic winds, the canopy of English elm

and sycamore leaves like colored coins fall and widen

a hole letting more light spill in, heaven’s alms

to earth whose ashen gray and white will soon be all the rage,

our guilty secret is the baby grand playing Glass’s Orphée

Suite for Piano. Nearby Butoh dancers writhe & almost upstage

with white-painted faces of horror (portraits of Nagasaki?),

and past the fountain’s water plumes, a drug-riddled couple

shares the smoldering remains of an American Spirit,

their grizzled dog roped to a shopping cart and frayed duffel

bag, this city’s updated version of American Gothic.

Our reddish-haired pianist lets the melancholic notes

float to high-rises on Fifth above its triumphal arch,

like a film in reverse where the golden foliage is read by a poet

as autumn’s light pours in. “Don’t Get Around Much

Anymore,” The Ink Spots’ Decca cover spins on a phonograph,

an era spiraling soft then held by his gentle pen.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.