478
PARTISAN REVIEW
he turned the conversation to her legs; she said frankly that she too liked
her legs. She had lifted her morning coat somewhat. With his shy hands,
Kuno Kohn carefully lifted it higher-
That evening Kuno Kohn sat dreamily in his room. He looked out
through the hole made by the open window. In front of him the gray inner
wall of the house dropped a short distance. With many quiet windows.
There was no sky, only shimmering evening air. And a gentle, occasional
breeze, which could scarcely be felt. The wall with the windows was like
a lovely, sad picture. Kuno Kohn was surprised that it was not boring. He
stared steadily and deeply into the wall.
It
seemed kind. Friendly. Full of
loneliness . Secretly he thought: the wind against the wall is doing this. He
sang inwardly:
Come, be.
.
.Ioved-a
bell startled him.
The postman brought him a letter from the Clou Club. The Clou
Club requested Mr. Kohn to read from his works on a certain evening.
Eight days before the appointed evening a placard went up on the city's pil–
lar for notices. On it was written:
ANNOUNCEMENT
Kuno Kahn will read from his own works at the Clou C lub. Young
girls and lawyers
kindly
reques ted not to attend.
As the evening approached, Kuno Kohn became increasingly agi tated.
Two hours before, he had himself shaved. When the man asked whether
the gentleman wanted powder, Kohn shook his head no, but said yes. An
hour before, Kohn went into a police station and asked for ten five-pfen–
nig stamps and a ten-pfennig postal card.
When Kohn stepped on the podium, he became calmer than he had
expected to be. First he made a slip of the tongue, but then his voice
gradually became firm and clear. Very few people were in the little hall,
but some critics from the large, influential newspapers were in atten–
dance. The next day one of them declared, in the widely circulated
Alten
Buergerzeitung,
that the poems which the poet Kohn, who enlists our
sympathy because of his physical handicap, brought to the attention of a
sparsely attended hall were not yet ready for publication; however, one
might expect something from his muse when Kohn has matured.
Another declared , in the
Journal Jor Enlightened Citizens:
the overall
impression is pleasing, but the poems are not all of the same quality. In
addition, the poet had not read well. But the first line of the first verse
