Three Poems from Yours Truly

I’m grateful to Bill Thompson, the superb editor of the Alabama Literary Review, for publishing three recent poems of mine: "Tea with Cavafy," "Seventies Rejection Note," and "Legend Must Do." Click here to read them.

Alabama Literary Review, 2021, Vol 30

In this day and age, when poems are often taken to be actual accounts of moments in the lives of the poets who have written them, rather than the words of personae, or fictional characters standing in to speak for the poet, it may be necessary for me to state that the speaker in “Tea with Cavafy” is not yours truly. Nor, in truth, is it Constantine Peter Cavafy. Instead, my poem is spoken by a ghost constructed of such materials as a photograph of Cavafy’s study, bits of his biography, and a sensibility I’ve been able to absorb based on years of reading translations of his poetry and Twelve Poems for Cavafy, an astounding 1974 sequence by the Greek poet Yannis Ritsos.

Widely thought to be the most distinguished Greek poet of the 20th century, Cavafy has a voice that comes over into English remarkably well, as attested to by the many fine translations of his poetry—including, most memorably, those of Edmund Keeley, who died at 94 on February 23. The clarity of Cavafy’s voice helped me to conduct a seance evoking a personage I hope you find hospitable.

In contrast, I can confirm that the poems “Seventies Rejection Note” and “Legend Must Do,” convey, with some embellishments, “real” incidents in the life of the poet—i.e., me. I actually did receive the rejection note quoted in the opening of the former poem, and the chronic bile it suggests is my own. While the legendary story of my grandfather’s escape from service in the Russian army may or may not apply to him, or apply only partially, I can verify that the rest of the poem is factual, at least from the remembered perspective of an eight-year-old boy.

It is a pleasure to see these poems in print, alongside fine work by a bundle of poets I know and admire.