Relations

La comtesse de Pierre, nee de Mac-Mahon
Se promene sur le boulevard Mac-Mahon

-H.J.M. Levet, Cartes Postales

Julie, there was the time
You went on the De Grasse with E.E. Coulihan
Unknowing. He, a student, and you, met
One night, ship's ball, a party
For those not seasick. And you danced,
Oh how you danced!
And on deck afterwards, kisses
By the slippery dozens, and hands
Clutching the waist and back. Valery Larbaud
Admires Levet and goes to visit
His apartment Rue Coulaincourt, the way Ron Padgett
Three years back visits the provincial home of Reverdy
What different poets. For Levet
Fancy duds, white nights, a lot of women and a few poems.
For Reverdy a lot of poems and almost nothing else.
My grandfather
Gets dressed up in a blue serge suit, smiles.
He died (too)
He is a contemporary
Of Levet the first part of his days, of Reverdy the second
Larbaud and he are exactly contemporary .
Coulihan dies young, age about forty.