deepundergroundpoetry.com
Ezra Pound’s Cage
My back a knot of muscles pulling taut
at any sense of strain
and radiating agony
keeps me glued to bed and chair
and bath like an unloved old man
struggling to get along in an apartment.
It also makes me think
how useless I’d be under torture,
or any cruelty applied
to punish an ideal, a stand.
I don’t respect what many men stand for.
In his dishevelled arrogance
Pound was just another brat,
deaf to human wailing.
But in his cage I think of him,
sleeping on concrete,
denied humanity and books,
all for those stupid, evil ideals.
I’d sell my back my principles
if it gave me mere comfort.
at any sense of strain
and radiating agony
keeps me glued to bed and chair
and bath like an unloved old man
struggling to get along in an apartment.
It also makes me think
how useless I’d be under torture,
or any cruelty applied
to punish an ideal, a stand.
I don’t respect what many men stand for.
In his dishevelled arrogance
Pound was just another brat,
deaf to human wailing.
But in his cage I think of him,
sleeping on concrete,
denied humanity and books,
all for those stupid, evil ideals.
I’d sell my back my principles
if it gave me mere comfort.
Published 22nd Dec 2019
Author's Note
PICTURED: “United States Army Disciplinary Training Center in Pisa, Italy, where the poet Ezra Pound was held for three weeks in 1945 after being arrested for treason.” - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Security_cages_where_Ezra_Pound_was_held,_Pisa,_Italy,_1945.JPG
Pound was an American-born poet who supported fascism and was paid by the Italian government to make antisemitic broadcasts during World War II.
Pound was an American-born poet who supported fascism and was paid by the Italian government to make antisemitic broadcasts during World War II.
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22nd Dec 2019 11:08am
" How mean thy hates
Fostered in falsity,
Pull down thy vanity,
Rathe to destroy, niggard in charity,
Pull down thy vanity,
I say pull down."
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/54320/canto-lxxxi
Very interesting poem, TSS.
Fostered in falsity,
Pull down thy vanity,
Rathe to destroy, niggard in charity,
Pull down thy vanity,
I say pull down."
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/54320/canto-lxxxi
Very interesting poem, TSS.
22nd Dec 2019 11:26pm
23rd Dec 2019 5:13am
Hi, Aha! Are you pointing out a grammatical error? If so, I’ve checked the line several times and it is supposed to read that way, as in to express that I would sell my principles “to” my back, in exchange for my back hurting me less.
23rd Dec 2019 1:16pm
I was! I thought you had inadvertently used 'my' twice. I've never thought about selling my back something, that's probably why!
23rd Dec 2019 7:09pm
Ah! Thank you for clarifying. Looking back it is rather an idiosyncratic line.
23rd Dec 2019 7:58pm
Yes; it is. I actually removed the second 'my' initially, and it made sense; however, I thought I was being idiosyncratic for thinking you would sell your back something. lolol
I’d sell my back principles
Idiosyncratic works well in poetry - shakes it up and expands thought.
I’d sell my back principles
Idiosyncratic works well in poetry - shakes it up and expands thought.
