On the day before his 72nd birthday, Jack presents a selection from his own work. Jack will recite, from “East St. Louis Toodle-Oo,”
“And the hope for wisdom /
useless /
And the hope for understanding /
a laugh /
And the hope to be free of neurosis /
hilarious”
as well as his translation of Rilke’s “Archaïscher Torso Apollos”:
“We cannot know the fabulous head /
Where the eyeapples ripened. Yet /
The torso burns. A candelabrum /
In which gaze glows, /
Blinding. And the soft turn /
Of the loins—where genitals /
Burn, and procreation flares. /
Otherwise, /
Nothing but destruction, fragment, defacement, stone— /
Not the wild animal’s fur we feel. /
Otherwise, /
This star would not have burst forth, /
Raging with light /
Until: There is no place that does not see you. /
—You must change your life.”