Against Bullshit, and: On the Infanticide Marie Farrar

9 BRECHT BERTOLT BRECHT Translated by Ed Ochester AGAINST BULLSHIT Don't let them bullshit you. You can't go home again but the day's going out the door. You can already feel the nightwind and there's no "new morning" anymore. Don't let them screw you. Life is pretty short. So drink up, go to town! Even that won't be enough When you're dead sober six feet down. Don't let them kid you. You don't have too much time. Let the holy rollers rot! Life is all there is and there's no more to be got. Don't let them bullshit you into empty jobs that grind you flat. Why all the misgiving? You die like all the living. And there's nothing after that. 10 THE MINNESOTA REVIEW ON THE INFANTICIDE MARIE FARRAR 1. Marie Farrar. Birthdate: April. No birthmarks, rickets, orphan, underage, no known previous offenses. Claims she murdered a baby thus: she says that in her second month she went to a woman in a basement apartment, tried to abort by taking two douches. Claims they were painful, but didn't work. Butyou, Ibegyou, don't be angry at her. Each creature needs the help ofevery other. 2. Nevertheless, she says, she paid what she owed, and later laced her corset very tight, also drank spirits mixed with pepper though her stomach couldn't hold on to that. Her belly, visibly swollen, hurt her a lot and cruelly when she washed the dishes. At that time, she says, she was still growing. She prayed to the Virgin Mary, hoped against all hope. Andyou, I begyou, don't be angry at her. Each creature needs the help ofevery other. 3. But her prayers apparently had no effect. It was a lot to ask. When she grew bigger she felt dizzy at morning mass. And she often sweated from fear, frequently at the altar. But she kept her condition a secret until the actual time arrived. Who would believe that someone so plain, so clumsy, fell victim to temptation? Andyou, I begyou, don't be angry at her. Each creature needs the help ofevery other. 11 BRECHT 4. On that day, she says, early in the morning while washing stairs she felt as if nails were clawing in her belly. She gets the shivers. Yet she's able to keep the pain secret. The whole day hanging out wash she racks her brains, and then it hits her: she's about to give birth, and right away her heart is heavy. But she goes to bed quite late. Butyou, Ibegyou, don't be angry at her. Each creature needs the help ofevery other. 5. They woke her up again when she lay in bed: Snow had fallen and she had to sweep it till eleven. It was a long day. But at night she could give birth in peace. And later she bore, so she says, a son. The son was a lot like other sons. She was not a lot like other mothers, though I have no cause to mock her. Andyou, Ibegyou, don't be angry at her, Each creature needs the help ofevery other. 6. I'll continue telling what happened with that son (she wanted, she says, to conceal nothing) so that you can see what I am and what you are. She says she was only in bed a short time when strong pains struck her, and the only thing she could think of—not knowing what would happenwas to force herself not to scream. Andyou, Ibegyou, don't be angry at her, Each creature needs the help ofevery other. 7. Then with her last bit of strength, so she says, since her room had grown ice-cold she dragged herself to the servants' privy and there— 12 THE MINNESOTA REVIEW she doesn't know when exactly—gave birth quietly. Maybe toward morning. She says she was now confused, and so numb from cold because snow could get into the room that she could hardly hold the baby. Andyou, Ibegyou, don't be angry at her. Each creature needs the help ofevery other. 8. Between her...