Last Exit:
A Meditation for Poetry Month
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Notes on the compiling of Only the Dead:
Today’s obituary of the author of Last Exit to Brooklyn suggested I look up Wolfe’s short story, “Only the Dead Know Brooklyn.” That story contained, near its end, a reference to drowning. Thoughts of drowning and of Brooklyn suggested (this being poetry month) Hart Crane’s classic The Bridge. When I looked for material on Crane on the Web, I found, to my considerable surprise, that today is the anniversary of Crane’s death.
As Wolfe says, apropos of Selby and Brooklyn,
“Red Hook! Jesus!”
As Crane says, apropos of Wolfe and the Brooklyn Bridge,
“Terrific threshold of the prophet’s pledge,
Prayer of pariah, and the lover’s cry….”
Unfortunately, the bridge is not for sale. However….