A Long Undressing

30 USD

Date

1971

Category

Poetry

Description

A LONG UNDRESSING is for all miraculous people who believe in the miracle of the rara avis, whether born in Modesto, California, or under a local bodhi tree. Others who stand by to give their blessing to this one include Blake, Bach, Mother Goose, Shakespeare, Stravinsky, Yeats, Auden, Joyce, Firbank, Stein, and all singers of fair folksongs." -Jonathan Williams

Excerpt

We do, we do, all there is to do, said the Eagle, the Lark, and the others: We eat and sleep and move about and watch what’s going on. We mate and nest and sit and hatch and watch the young get on. We hunt and preen and sing and wash, we take long journeys and local jaunts or simply sit about and scratch and watch what’s going on. But that’s quite pointless! said the Birdcage Man, You’ll never get anywhere that way.