In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

  • From Part Four of A Cloud in Trousers
  • Vladimir Mayakovsky (bio) and David Lehman (bio)

Maria! Maria! Maria!Open up.It's cold out here, and the streets are scary.

No? Would you rather see me freeze,whipped by the wind, stripped,my skull devoid of my teeth?

Maria, look! I'm shivering! I'm shaking!and the rain is pelting the pavement,pelting all of us,beggars, junkies, winos, bums,like tearsfrom the eyes of the drainpipe waterfall.

And thus the rain licked our feetall of us except for the fatsoesstuffed with goose liverand with an apple in their mouthsriding in the back seats of expensive carriages.

________

Maria!Open up.The mob is breathing down my neck.Look, they're attacking my eyes with hatpins! [End Page 374] I'm in.

Maria, I want youto ignore whatever they say about me.I may have kissed a thousand girlsbut you're this madman's favorite,for I'll gladly admit I'm a mad man,mad about you.

Maria, I'd love it if youand I took off all our clothesand lay naked and shameless,or scared, if you prefer,in bed.

Let me kiss you on the mouth.On this May day come live with mein the April of my heart.

Maria!Poets write sonnetsto the souls of their lovers,but I am every inch a manand I want your body as much asa devout Christian beseeches the Lordto "give us this day our daily bread."

Maria,I confess I'm afraid I'll forget your nameas a poet is afraid he'll forget le mot justewhich he has looked for all his life,the word born in a night to perish in a night,while the soul glowed in rays of light. [End Page 375]

Maria,I promise you I will love your bodyas much as a wounded veteran loveshis one remaining leg.

No? Why no?

But you say no.Damn.

So once again I'll have to carry my heart awayas a dog nurses the paw that was crushed by a train. [End Page 376]

Vladimir Mayakovsky

vladimir mayakovsky (1893–1930) was among the most talented and innovative poets of the first half of the twentieth century. A true believer in Leninist ideology and a key figure in Russian Futurism, he died under mysterious circumstances during the reign of Stalin.

David Lehman

david lehman's most recent books are Poems in the Manner Of and Sinatra's Century: One Hundred Notes on the Man and His World. He divides his time between New York City and Ithaca, New York.

...

pdf

Share