230
PARTISAN REVIEW
images and stupefied readers in the dust muttering, "Who was that
masked man?" The problem with it was the lack of clarity; one can't
see the future for all the hanging rubbish. But oh what beautiful
things there were on those trees as I held my breath and Ling pointed
and I stared and finally some burst of phrase darted out from its
hiding place, became a thickening opening in my marijuana-furred
smile, of what I could learn
to
do with words. It was as
if
she held my
arm and I, her pupil, sang. And it is this sense of her own growing
verbal charisma that her letter, written just after the Armstrong
Grove visit, reflects:
wednesday 8
the moon is opening an orange-slices-all of an open
orange's shapes for you. i give you a bowl of it to keep away
a
cold.
i had
a
slight mental breakdown, meaning that it broke
down for me into a cold-all outrageous because of the
germs I gave you. so i chant for you.
dear trillium,
you should burden me with all your complications-i like
the thought of curves on
my
body put there as you burden
me with complications.
oh robin,
Do you believe i have powers of healing? These things
take time as the cosmic forces within the body stir to move–
ment. I will greet you then, on the 13th, if you're still going
up the coast. Mendocino would be grand-you could see
benny bufano's statue smiling and waving to the sea. Natural–
ly /,11 be here, yet it seems like so much-maybe too much–
driving for you. I could come to Berkeley, or meet you some–
where, or something. I think I should try to call you on Sun–
day-just a really quick ass call-to ask where, when, and
hear if you still wish. i'll ring in the morning, and if no
answer then again at night.
The cats have their own scene now. We live with each
other outside instead of in-something i've been promising
them for over
a
year.
I have spent some little time looking at the mushrooms
through the Chinese painting we were in, wondering about
either writing something about them (write
my
diary in the
