Edvard Munch 
        to Jordan Smith

Eddie, you said you forgot about insanity & death
when you were at the beach. ‘From Beer To Eternity’
was as serious as you could take it.
‘The land is holy’ was as close as you came
to ‘Melancholy’. It changed you at the beach, Eddie -

        no talk of your mother’s nightmares
        being family furniture no talk
        of the stupor that finally broke your heart
        into activity none of the
        ‘lick my sick prick quick’
        that made all your women
        & schizophrenic.

        Lots of talk, Eddie.

        No, at the beach you were different.
        You yakked about restaurants
        with the best of them.
        Hart Crane hadn’t yet leapt in a robe
        towards Caribbean love
        but nonetheless, you
        made your ‘meek adjustment’.

        At the beach, Eddie,
        you worried about your weight
        with the best of them. Your vanity
        waxed cultural & you were cheerfully
        embarrassed