KENNETH KOCH
77
loneliness and worst of a ll des pa ir a t one's feeling so to ta ll y una ble to
do it. Oh ! Muse, Angel of Des pera teness, susta in me if I deal with thi s
hard ho rribl e subj ect fo r it rea ll y makes me feel as weak as an aphid
who has just been hit by a glass of wa ter. Her youthful uniform
(breas ts) betrayed no signs of des pa ir, but next Monday in the arms of
"Mogador" -Li sten-the brave mockin g bird is coll aps in g hi s cuckoo–
song past the musty tri -pad of Scotch in venti veness and I am h ere
without angui sh of Mogador in my head but with true perfect angui sh
as if you began by ho ldin g a dead stran g led duck and then you became
it. Fi sh sou p!
It
would be ni cc to be returning to your beli evabl e
rivages!
T he worl d moves, but th e earth 's stone rema in s unshaken .
A nin e o' cl ock deadline to return to Ma rrakesh . So we must leave
Mogado r, uh , Essaouira.
It
is beginnin g to ra in now but no t in
Essaouira. T he children are sho rt and ta ll in Essaouira. Fish and many
vegetabl es being sold from counter and sta ll. And the bi g m arket part
where the sheep are. Some stunted fur. A dirty wool promi se but we can
get it cl ean later. There a re some Arab songs. We li ve in terror but the
surface we keep beautiful and cl ea n , sometimes miracul ously so, as
here in the formerl y ca ll ed Mogado r, a p lace you should vi sit durin g
your life.
Interv iew with Pi erre Sadi-Rab-1 2/ 28/ 72
PSR:
Wh at are yo ur first imp ress ions of Mo rocco?
K:
I thought th a t would be a good ques ti o n
to
as k you . One's " first
impress ions" bein g in fact los t amid a " desert of contexts," as John
Ashbery once wrotc. He sa id it a bout a poem but a poem is in a sen se
a semi-concrete entang lement of fir st imp ressions- or nothin g.
PSR:
I am glad you have dec ided to intervi ew me. I am inspired to say
some wonderful things.
K:
Well , th at's the way it usua ll y is when things wo rk out well. The
secret is in some kind of exchange and respon se. You 've lived here all
your life?
PSR:
Yes, excep t fo r two student years in Pari s.
K:
How did you like Pari s?
PSR:
It
was awful.
K:
In
wha t way?
PSR:
Everythin g. T he people, the food, the a rchite ture, the way of
life, the way p eopl e feel and think. I fin d the whole French culture
appall in g.
K:
I' ve a lways liked France very much .
