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