In the Desert by Stephen Crane : The Poetry Foundation [poem]
I'm not much of a memorizer, but Stephen Crane's "In the Desert" is so packed with dynamite (and so short) that I got it down, somewhere back there in youth. Sometimes I used it on first dates. I thought it made me sound deep. Over time, a pattern emerged: no one who heard it on a first date wanted to go out again. Women. Go figure.
Posts
11 comments:
I still would have gone out with you a second time -- if you were really, really cute.
But what about deep? Johnny Deep? Nice guys and deep guys BOTH finish last? Cruel world.
I would have married you
I love these photos.
Saw a vulture up close last week.
PA, atta girl.
Jean, thanks. What a difference between vultures up close vs. in flight, eh?
Creepy.
I would have worried about you. I'd probably tell my mom you were weird, creepy. I'd be curious, but scared. Marry you? I'd be afraid you'd eat my heart out, too. Would you keep a notebook of all the hearts you have consumed?
B52, gawon, you've always worn your heart on your sleeve.
I'm gonna turn this into a dating blog!!
Brenda, way to go Gothic . . . Have you ever dated Stephen King?
Paula, long time. Great to hear from you again.
Is it too late to comment on the poem? Cuz I got nuthin on dating you.
Strikes me as something that would have been better if written by William Blake ("The Poison Tree"?). Free verse with slightly arch or archaic diction and in-your-face symbolism makes it seem oddly stiff and swell-chested.
Post a Comment