TWO

the season ’tis, my lovely lambs, of Sumner Volstead Christ and Co. the epoch of Mann’s righteousness the age of dollars and no sense. Which being quite beyond dispute as prove from Troy (N. Y.) to Cairo (Egypt) the luminous dithyrambs of large immaculate unmute antibolshevistic gents (each manufacturing word by word his own unrivalled brand of pyro -technic blurb anent the (hic) hero dead that gladly (sic) in far lands perished of unheard of maladies including flu) my little darlings, let us now passionately remember how— braving the worst, of peril heedless, each braver than the other, each (a typewriter within his reach) upon his fearless derrière sturdily seated—Colonel Needless To Name and General You know who a string of pretty medals drew (while messrs jack james john and jim in token of their country’s love received my dears the order of The Artificial Arm and Limb) —or, since bloodshed and kindred questions inhibit unprepared digestions, come:let us mildly contemplate beginning with his wellfilled pants earth’s biggest grafter, nothing less; the Honorable Mr. (guess) who, breathing on the ear of fate, landed a seat in the legislat- ure whereas tommy so and so (an erring child of circumstance whom the bulls nabbed at 33rd) pulled six months for selling snow

opening of the chambers close quotes the microscopic pithicoid President in a new frock coat(scrambling all up over the tribune dances crazily & &)& chatters about Peacepeacepeace(to droppingly descend amid thunderous anthropoid applause)pronounced by the way Pay the extremely artistic nevertobeextinguished fla -me of the(very prettily indeed)arra- nged souvenir of the in spite of himself fa -mous soldier minus his na- me(so as not to hurt the perspective of the(hei -nous thought)otherwise immaculately tabulated vicinity)invei- gles a few mildly curious rai -ned on people(both male and female created He then, And every beast of the field

“next to of course god america i love you land of the pilgrims’ and so forth oh say can you see by the dawn’s early my country ’tis of centuries come and go and are no more what of it we should worry in every language even deafanddumb thy sons acclaim your glorious name by gorry by jingo by gee by gosh by gum why talk of beauty what could be more beaut- iful than these heroic happy dead who rushed like lions to the roaring slaughter they did not stop to think they died instead then shall the voices of liberty be mute?” He spoke. And drank rapidly a glass of water

it’s jolly odd what pops into your jolly tete when the jolly shells begin dropping jolly fast you hear the rrmp and then nearerandnearerandNEARER and before you can ! & we’re NOT (oh— —i say that’s jolly odd old thing, jolly odd, jolly jolly odd isn’t it jolly odd.

look at this) a 75 done this nobody would have believed would they no kidding this was my particular pal funny aint it we was buddies i used to know him lift the poor cuss tenderly this side up handle with care fragile and send him home to his old mother in a new nice pine box (collect

first Jock he was kilt a handsome man and James and next let me see yes Will that was cleverest he was kilt and my youngest boy was kilt last with the big eyes i loved like you can’t imagine Harry was o god kilt he was kilt everybody was kilt they called them the kilties

lis -ten you know what i mean when the first guy drops you know everybody feels sick or when they throw in a few gas and the oh baby shrapnel or my feet getting dim freezing or up to your you know what in water or with the bugs crawling right all up all everywhere over you all me everyone that’s been there knows what i mean a god damned lot of people don’t and never never will know, they don’t want to no

come, gaze with me upon this dome of many coloured glass, and see his mother’s pride, his father’s joy, unto whom duty whispers low “thou must!” and who replies “I can!” —yon clean upstanding well dressed boy that with his peers full oft hath quaffed the wine of life and found it sweet— a tear within his stern blue eye, upon his firm white lips a smile, one thought alone: to do or die for God for country and for Yale above his blond determined head the sacred flag of truth unfurled, in the bright heyday of his youth the upper class American unsullied stands, before the world: with manly heart and conscience free, upon the front steps of her home by the high minded pure young girl much kissed, by loving relatives well fed, and fully photographed the son of man goes forth to war with trumpets clap and syphilis

little ladies more than dead exactly dance in my head, precisely dance where danced la guerre. Mimi a la voix fragile qui chatouille Des Italiens the putain with the ivory throat Marie Louise Lallemand n’es-ce pas que je suis belle cheri? les anglais m’aiment tous, les americains aussi. . . .“bon dos, bon cul de Paris” (Marie Vierge Priez Pour Nous) with the long lips of Lucienne which dangle the old men and hot men se promenent doucement le soir(ladies accurately dead les anglais sont gentils et les americains aussi, ils payent bien les americains dance exactly in my brain voulez vous coucher avec moi? Non? pourquoi? ladies skilfully dead precisely dance where has danced la guerre j’m’appelle Manon, cinq rue Henri Mounier voulez vous coucher avec moi? te ferai Mimi te ferai Minette, dead exactly dance si vous voulez chatouiller mon lezard ladies suddenly j’m’en fout de negres (in the twilight of Paris Marie Louise with queenly legs cinq rue Henri Mounier a little love begs, Mimi with the body like une boite a joujoux, want nice sleep? toutes les petites femmes exactes qui dansent toujours in my head dis-donc,Paris ta gorge mysterieuse pourquoi se promene-t-elle, pourquoi eclate ta voix fragile couleur de pivoine?) with the long lips of Lucienne which dangle the old men and hot men precisely dance in my head ladies carefully dead

16 heures l’Etoile the communists have fine Eyes some are young some old none look alike the flics rush batter the crowd sprawls collapses singing knocked down trampled the kicked by flics rush(the Flics, tidiyum, are very tidiyum reassuringly similar, they all have very tidiyum mustaches, and very tidiyum chins, and just above their very tidiyum ears their very tidiyum necks begin) let us add that there are 50(fifty)flics for every one(1)communist and all the flics are very organically arranged and their nucleus(composed of captains in freshly-creased -uniforms with only-just- shined buttons tidiyum before and behind)has a nucleolus: the Prefect of Police (a dapper derbied creature, swaggers daintily twiddling his tiny cane and, mazurkas about tweak- ing his wing collar pecking at his im -peccable cravat directing being shooting his cuffs saluted everywhere saluting reviewing processions of minions tappingpeopleontheback “allezcirculez”) —my he’s brave. . . . the communists pick up themselves friends & their hats legs & arms brush dirt coats smile looking hands spit blood teeth the Communists have(very)fine eyes (which stroll hither and thither through the evening in bruised narrow questioning faces)

my sweet old etcetera aunt lucy during the recent war could and what is more did tell you just what everybody was fighting for, my sister isabel created hundreds (and hundreds)of socks not to mention shirts fleaproof earwarmers etcetera wristers etcetera, my mother hoped that i would die etcetera bravely of course my father used to become hoarse talking about how it was a privilege and if only he could meanwhile my self etcetera lay quietly in the deep mud et cetera (dreaming, et cetera, of Your smile eyes knees and of your Etcetera)