Night Soil

By Keith Waldrop

This article appeared in the December 8, 2008 edition of The Nation.

November 19, 2008

A random walk, its ordinary motion
blurring chronology. Behind, a
seascape. As if on a ship's deck.

Fear of defeat is an old habit. All this fuss, with my
hat pushed back. Honeyed phantastic. En-
raptured soul. Another blow.

From the end of the corridor, at the kitchen
window. These frosts are cruel. I am not
up to them. Out on the balcony, basking.

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About Keith Waldrop

Keith Waldrop (born Emporia, Kansas, 1932) teaches at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, and, with Rosmarie Waldrop, is editor of the small press Burning Deck. Recent books include translations of Anne-Marie Albiach and Claude Royet-Journoud. Forthcoming this spring are three titles: Transcendental Studies, a book of poems (University of California Press), Several Gravities, a book of collages (Siglio Press) and a translation of Baudelaire's Paris Spleen: little poems in prose (Wesleyan University Press). more...
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