And possibly the towns one never sees are best,
Preserved, remote, and merely names and distances.
Cadiz, Kentucky, “noted for the quality of hams it ships,
The home of wealthy planters,”. . .
Weldon Kees,
The New Yorker
from Travels in North America
Joe was from Cadiz. I met him (this date, according to my notebook)at Murray State. His poems were beautiful, melancholic and metrical at the same time. More than anyone else in our class, he had the gift of tone.
We both had the same puzzling habit of counting syllables with our fingers. He told me I'd have made a great Morse code operator. I told him he'd have been a good transcriptionist.
Joe, today's my birthday, and I've still never been to Florida.
"Falling apart in the fall."
"Rue is rule without the l."
4 comments:
My birthday is July 9, and it was 12:07 when I posted this. Actually my birthday may be July 10, since I was born on 11:59 p.m. in Colorado. Just a little minutiae for you to consider.
Happy happy birthday!
I absolutely love Joe Bolton. I read his book ragged, and had to order another copy.
Patty, I agree 100%. It is a beautiful book. I met him very early in his writing career. You could already tell that he was the real deal.
I'm so glad that his poems have been preserved.
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