Introducing Irony - A Book Of Poetic Short Stories And Poems (Paperback)

INTRODUCING IRONY - 1922 - Some of the poems and stories in this book have appeared in The Dial, Harpers Bazar, The Little Review, The Nation, Cartoons Magazine, Poetry, A Magazine of Verse, The New York Globe, The Bookman, Vanity Fair, The Measure and The Double Dealer -- CONTENTS -- PAGE JACK ROSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 SEAWEEDFR OMM ARS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I3 TUXMOI I L N A MORGUE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 CONDENSENDO VEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 MANNERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 CANDIDN ARRATIV . E . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 UNLITERAR A Y ND SHAMELES . S . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Two SONNET T S O MY WIFE . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 FINALITIES I-. V III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 IMAGINARPYE OPLE I . - IV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 UNEASYR EFLECTION . S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 SUMMERE VENING N EW YORE S UBWAYS TATION . . . 50 GARBAG H E EAP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 IMPULSIVED IALOGUE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 EMOTIONAMLO NOLOG . UE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 PRONOUNCEFADN TASY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 WHEN SPIRITSS PEAK O F LIFE . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 PAGE ART . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 MUSI . C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 ETHICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 HISTOR . Y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . go PSYCHICP HENOMENA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 LOVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 - INTRODUCING - IRONY JACK ROSE - WITH crafty brooding life turned to Jack Rose And made him heroin-peddler, and his pose Was sullenly reflective since he fearedThat life, regarding him, had merely jeered. His vanity was small and could not call His egoism to the dubious hall Of fame, where average artists spend their hour. Doubting his powers he was forced to cower Within the shrill, damp alleys of his time, Immersed in that brisk midnight known as crime. He shunned the fiercely shrewd stuff that he sold To other people, and derived a cold Enjoyment from the writhing of their hearts. A speechless artist, he admired the arts Of blundering destruction, like a monk Viewing a play that made him mildly drunk. And so malicious and ascetic Jack Bent to his trade with a relentless back Until he tapped an unexpected smile - A womans smile as smooth and hard as tile. May Bulger pawned her flesh to him and gave His heroin to her brother, with a grave Reluctance fumbling at her painted lips. Though angry at herself, she took the whips Of undesired love, to quiet a boy Who wept inanely for his favorite toy. She hated Jack because he failed to gloss And soften the rough surface of her loss, His matter-of-fact frown biting at her heart. He hated her because her smiling guess Had robbed him of ascetic loneliness, And when her brother died, Jack sat beside Her grief and played a mouth-harp while she cried. But when she raised her head and smiled at him-A smile intensely stripped and subtly grim - His hate felt overawed and in a trap, And suddenly his head fell to her lap. For some time she sat stiffly in the chair, Then slowly raised her hand and stroked his hair. SEAWEED FROM MARS HAVE you ever played on a violin Larger than ten thousand stars And warmer than what you call sin Torban, a young man from Mars, Gave me the stretch of his voice, And my no felldown like a pin On the echoed din of his words. He said Then I have no choice. I must use the barrenly involved Words with which you have not solved The wistful riddles of your days. Leave the pale and ruddy herds Of men, with their surrendering ways, And come with me to Mars...