Olives: Poems

Lines for Turner Cassity

33 Lines for Turner Cassity Librarian with military bearing, You’ve left us poems critics call unsparing, A wit not merely clever but hard-bitten. Sometimes I hear you utter overwritten, And even at this distance, there’s no choice But hear the word in that distinctive voice, Not circumflexing drawl, diphthonged legato, But southern, brisk, particular staccato— Inimitable voice—for never cruel— Impatient only of the pompous fool And vagueness that gesticulates at truth. Clear and styptic as a dry vermouth, You taught the courtesy of kindness meant By shaming false and floral sentiment. Death’s crude arithmetic only exacts The estimate of flesh and bone for tax; You it has taken—and yet misconstrued— For it has left us your exactitude. ...