The Letter
I found the letter in a book I bought at an outdoor theatre turned flea market every weekend. It was June 1995 in a small town on the California coast.
The book was Tolstoy, Anna Karenina, and the letter was tucked between pages 434 and 435, where a delirious Levin, the day after he’s proposed to Kitty, visits her parents’ home. The letter—pinkish, sealed, not mailed, faintly redolent of talcum, like a pressed flower—was from a Sarah Harris, dated inside October, 1939.
Yes, I opened it and read how fine the trip was from Des Moines back to Cincinnati, suspecting nuances and unworded passages I had no way of understanding that went along with what I took to be the mute appeal to Carl Bigelow, 913 McKinley Avenue, Des Moines, Iowa, in the final paragraph: “There didn’t seem time for me to say all the things I needed to. Do you feel the same?”
The Tolstoy was a book club’s bonus edition bound in grey leatherette. Had Sarah Harris purposely placed the letter between those pages depicting Levin and Kitty’s jubilant betrothal? I had no way of knowing, and refused to suppose. However, I resealed the letter, affixed fresh stamps to the envelope, and sent it on.
From Moments Without Names: New & Selected Prose Poems (White Pine Press, 2002)
My Day
Every day I talk with neighbors, tradesmen, cashiers, and friends I’ve known for years, some of them my students from decades ago. I call to my wife from the front door and she answers. The children have been gone for years, but the neighbor’s cats lounge in the backyard, and every spring doves roost in the planter boxes on the front porch and stay all summer. Alone at night in the room upstairs, I read, listen to music, and watch the stars. Tell me, has anyone been luckier or had a richer life?
From Pursuing the Dream Bone (Quale Press, 2007)
Morton Marcus (1936–2009) Born in New York, Mort attended the Iowa Writer’s Workshop and completed his M.A. at Stanford University. He taught English and film at Cabrillo College for 30 years. His published work includes 11 poetry books, a novel, a memoir, more than 500 poems in literary journals, and over 90 poems in anthologies. His last books were Striking Through the Masks: A Literary Memoir; The Star Wizard’s Legacy (translations of Vasko Popa); and The Dark Figure in the Doorway: Last Poems. Mort conducted readings and workshops in dozens of universities. He was poet-in-residence at several SUNY campuses, The University of Arkansas’ Graduate Writing Program, Providence College, and The Prague Summer Program. The Morton Marcus Poetry Archive is housed at UC Santa Cruz. http://www.mortonmarcus.com
Local Poets, Local Inspiration, edited by Robert Sward, appears monthly in Santa Cruz Weekly and weekly on this site. Selections are by invitation.
