Close To Greatness Poem by Charles Bukowski
Close To Greatness
at one stage in my life
I met a man who claimed to have
visited Pound at St. Elizabeths.
then I met a woman who not only
claimed to have visited
E.P.
but also to have made love
to him—she even showed
me
certain sections in the
Cantos
where Ezra was supposed to have
mentioned
her.
so there was this man and
this woman
and the woman told me
that Pound had never
mentioned a visit from this
man
and the man claimed that the
lady had had nothing to do
with the
master
that she was a
charlatan
and since I wasn't a
Poundian scholar
I didn't know who to
believe
but one thing I do
know: when a man is
living
many claim relationships
that are hardly
so
and after he dies, well,
then it's everybody's
party.
my guess is that Pound
knew neither the lady or the
gentleman
or if he knew
one
or if he knew
both
it was a shameful waste of
madhouse
time.
Very funny and so true....good poem it just hits the nail on the head....
The price of fame, exploitation of name, when your alive people will often keep their distance, after your gone they will claim some connection. Like maggots.
my guess is that Pound knew neither the lady or the gentleman.... //.... Very sensible. When a celebrity is gone, concocting such tales has no meaning.
okay, charlie... perhaps i'd care more if i thought more about pound. the two poems by him i remember and like for their humanity are ballad of the goodly fere and a pact both of which can be read here in ph. -gk
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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4/16/2024 12:15:10 AM # 1.0.0.1119
Everybody wants a memory of the piece of the pie-even if it's false.