HART CRANE
______________
Miss Crane as Europa
Male Sapphic Modernism
Letter to Miss Tate
Highstepping Hysteric
Letter to Yvor Winters
_____________________
Miss Crane as Europa
“Was he aware of the
incredible deviousness
of his language?”
—Paul Bowles, Foreword
O My Land, My Friends
“I have been driven at last
to the parks. The first night
brought me a most strenuous
wooing and the largest
instrument I have handled.
Europa and the bull are
entirely passé. As this
happened only two nights
ago, I am modest and
satisfied. Still, I am
uneasy. I fear for all the
anti-climaxes that are surely
in store for me. Like Alec,
I yearn for new worlds to
conquer, and I fear that
there are only a few
insignificant peninsulas
left.”
—Hart Crane, O My Land,
My Friends: The Selected
Letters of Hart Crane: To
Wilbur Underwood [Cleveland,
Ohio] 4th of July [1922], The
Selected Letters of Hart Crane
Male Sapphic Modernism
“I often wish we could get
together and read aloud—
there are so few people
who like that mutual
pastime any more.”
—Hart Crane in a letter
to Wilbur Underwood
[Cleveland, Ohio] 4th
of July [1922], The
Selected Letters of
Hart Crane
I suppose it takes one—
To know one as far as
Size queens are concerned
And both these letters seem
To hint (“WHOOPS”?) that…
But besides that—
Letters are like more like
Readings in that orality rules
Rather than simply reading
Prose since letters swoop
Down out of the aether with
Little pretense of Olympia.
Although this letter—
Of 1922 seems so camp &
Relevant even now almost
A century later as does the
Other communiqués here
Within this juicy volume.
Size queen mythology—
Once so chic & in vogue
So full of mythopoetic
Creatures like Europa &
Her Bull, well, honey…
Not that size isn’t—
The last avant garde or
Anything like that but
Still a hung Cisco Kid
Still seems to have its
Pancho aficionados &
Queer Theory shocked
Academics in a Twit…
The Dyke Contingent—
Of Sapphic Modernism
At a recent conference
Objected to the shocking
Backdrop of a well-hung
Hispanic male during a
Speaker’s QT lecture…
Which seems to—
Indicate a QT factional
Dispute deep in the
Butch bosom of Lesbos
Queer Theory which
Needs to be discussed…
Letter to Miss Tate
“Euthanasia”—where you hit
humanity a few slaps, but in
so interesting a way!”
—Hart Crane, Letter to Allen
Tate [Cleveland, Ohio]
Wednesday / July 19, 1922
Your poem is—
So creative, my dear, where
The ordinary “character”
Portrait is merely analytic
And, generally, unimportant
(at least in poetry).
And you needn’t, my dear—
Be afraid of running too
Squarely into Miss Eliot with
Work like this.
You’re such an excellent—
Bitch queen, giving praise
With an edge and beauty,
Allen. That downward slant
Of your damnations, so gay!
Your marriage? Well, dear—
It sounds ominous. Think well,
Beforehand. Are you easily
Satisfied? That’s the main
Danger. Affectionately, Hart
Highstepping Hysteric
“I’m glad to hear—
that you feel lie commenting
on The Bridge…”
—Hart Crane, Letter to Yvor
Winters, 190 Columbia Heights
[Brooklyn, New York] January
27 [1930]
Tate is reviewing it—
For The Hound & Horn,
Cowley for the New Republic,
Schneider for the Chicago
Eve. Post.
That leaves Poetry & The Nation.
I recently read the “Indiana”
Section to Harriet Monroe. There
Aren’t that many openings for
Any of us.
I’m eager to read—
Your exposé of Robinson Jeffers.
I’ve always felt that Jeffers was
Sincere—but that doesn’t quite
Suffice. Somewhat “gifted”—
To use a horrible word.
But everything—
He as written has given me a
Vague nausea. He’s really just
A Highstepping Hysteric, I’m
Afraid.
Letter to Yvor Winters
“Your disparagement of—
The Bridge surprised me
Considerably, dearest Yvor”
—Hart Crane, Patterson,
New York / June 4, 1930
Such hypocrisy, my dear Yvor—
You’ve simply outdone yourself!
Misrepresenting your prejudices—
Toward a biological fact or it just
Your own autobiographical approach
To gay poetry these days?
Of course, you’ve the right—
To be str8t & dish any work of art
Or personality as often as you see
Fit, but I’m less certain that your
Validity as a critic is strengthened
By permitting your own prejudices
To blur the text before you on the
Printed page…
Your homophobic rant—
Certainly takes advantage of your
Hetero persuasions against certain
Features & directions repugnant
To you in The Bridge.
It doesn’t seem to have mattered—
Which sections or lines to cite for
You to exaggerate, misappropriate—
Or just confuse to make your rant
More convincing.
Anyone can read “Indiana”—
And realize that it’s not some tacky,
Mawkish memorandum on queers
Anymore than The Bridge is some
Kind of gay undertaking daring to
Span the morality & high morals
Of the East River.
You assume The Bridge is an epic—
When we both know our present
Stage of cultural development simply
Negates such an organic mythology.
Were you trying to burden me with
Traditional pedantic trappings so that
You could chastise me like an unruly
Whitmanesque schoolboy?
Surely, my dear, tenure at Stanford—
Hasn’t dulled you senses with tacky
Folk lore or caused you to betray with
Such premature gusto “The River” as
Some kind of turgid anti-climax skuzzy
Whitman dish unmastered to any
Unforeseen degree other than merely
Masturbating “purple passages”?
C’mon now, Queen Yvor—
Your petticoat is showing, my dear.
Accusing me of “Moral Surrender”
And “Reversion of the Species” or
Heaven knows what else—it’s simply
Laughable for you to distort my
Innocent poem as some kind of
Terrible “Behavioristic Betrayal.”
The next thing you’ll be doing—
Is accusing Shakespeare of gay
Homicidal inclinations because
He created Macbeth. Again, your
Notions of what is feeble in my
Character offers false premises.
My acknowledgment in The Bridge—
Of Whitman’s influence as “Not
Greatest, thou—not first, not last—
But near” [line 200 in “Cape
Hatteras”]—apparently, this line
Discolored the entire poem in
Your estimation. Not gay enough?
My so-called unflattering—
“Moment to moment” inspirational
Limp to complete The Bridge in
5 years apparently doesn’t fit into
Your Poker game mentality…
Reshuffling the cards—
Sustaining something-or-other
(“Differentiations of experience”)
Into a winning hand on a Saturday
Night schmoozing with the boys…
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