42
PARTISAN REVIEW
Truck drew up on the village square, facing the cannon, dead
cannon, back of the truck
was
facing the square. ·Now boom boom
boom how he beat, this man. People came running to see what the
boom. The boom. The boom. They liked the boom. They liked the
man, the booming indolent beautiful man, alert alive and beautiful
man. Boom. How they ran to see what the boom and to see the drum
and to see our man, our MAN.
Politician got out to make his speech, ran and hopped on the
back of the truck. How our man then boomed then boomed. Politician
smiled. Drum-man stopped. boom. Politician made a speech: I'm
me, like me, vote for me, thank you (snarl). People laugh. Drum-man
laughs. Drum is silent like after the phone, after the war. Man is
alive though, in his eyes, laughing eyes, blue and white eyes, morning
eyes. 0 beautiful beautiful morning eyes. And what a lovely lovely
day. The politician went away, got into the front of the truck, not for
us, we don't care, he is gone away, dead. And now our man, now our
man, frantically lazily our man. Boom boom boom boom boom boom
boom. Boom.
* * *
Martha came out of her cottage door as the truck went past, to
see what the boom, to see who the boom. And she saw our man! The
truck went past and she heard it stop on the .village square. Don't you
believe that she didn't care, she saw our man, o beautiful, beautiful.
That was living, the boom in her veins, her temple veins, her thigh–
white veins, her breast-blue veins, living, living, living, living. 0 the
boom compelled her thighs and her breasts to match the living that
lived in her eyes, her living eyes, grass-green eyes, timothy eyes, June–
grass eyes. 0 what a lovely lovely day, what a blue and white morn–
ing, what a life-living morning, what a silently booming booming
morning. Called to life, called to life, like a suddenly booming drum–
man's eyes.
Martha was more woman than women. She wore blue gingham
and a white apron over. Outside woman, shining woman, lovely lovely
shining girl. She went into the house to' get the sheets,
husband'~
shirts, newly laundered, crisp, white. She came back onto the eye–
green lawn, she hated to step on the grassy lawn, that she thought
was like stepping on her eyes. Drum-man's eyes are blue and white
(she saw, she saw), husband's eyes are like butter and bread, bread
and butter (I like it, I like it, there's nothing better, better than bread
and crisp-gold butter) but Martha is woman is woman is woman,
bread and butter is sooner forgotten, husband forgotten, before the
sight of our morning eyed Man.
Martha hung the clothes on the line, white bright shirts (husband
