88
PARTISAN REVIEW
afLer two years of absence if, onl y if, you find tha t it is new, an
Essaouira
post-Oua rzaza te, after-Zagori an
And o ther travelers to Morocco will rela te
drifting expe ri ences
Wasn 't tha t grea t, absolutely grea t
And did you get the shift there?
what
there are some ma rvelous little shi ps
too bad , you mi ssed th em
I mi ssed
SOMETHING !
Ouarzaza te tho u beautiful breas ts of day
wha t's tha t?
the shrimp, the shift
I know
thou
isn 't plura l, well n eith er are breas ts
Is the ocean plural? then neither is breas ts, a re breas ts
Sounding better thi s way
Ouarzaza te 7..agora down there in the
desert the old old library, with books like a jewel, the terribl e roadway ,
to get there by fu el, better a t camelback o r ho rse hoof, to sec, among the
divided tri angle square a t, far from (rela ti vely) Oua rzazate, by Zagora,
but di stant by bad roads (as Germany is di stant from g rammar ) thi s
old p lace
Wha t was I do ing exactl y in Essaouira in Oua rzaza te in Zagora? Say,
well , you mi ssed th e bes t thin g, th e herpes o f the mounta in / I say
to
hell with tha t. At Ouarzaza t.e I beli eve it was a t th e h o tel upon whose
bed I lay breaking my back
to
see the thin dawn line h ow eas il y I write
now come out though pro ba bl y scientifi ca ll y it was in the window
where an a utomo bil e fl a t top bo ttom lay fa tl y bul g ing in the summery
Chri stmas dawn , th ere was one whom we gave a lift to and he left hi s
shoes in the ca r in a paper bag and in some bi za rre way we ma il ed them
back to him no left them a t a ca r agency with him in some way
connected . Did he ever receive the shoes? But tha t is n o t in Essaouira.
Let u s say, Ouarzaza te, h ere's our lecture, a di scu ss ion o f place
and of o ur likin g for pl ace
and of the infl uence of place
in ou r li ves
