[Click image to view]

Here is another one for your collection.
If it seems worthy, please pass it on
to Joey.

And please tell Joey the reason
the tea is not helping his headaches
is that it’s ginger tea he should
be drinking, not the regular.

Love,

Wes

THE WISH

Bernice Manchester,
who exchanged the veil
for an apron, and wore it
on Frank’s farm for fifty years,
closing it each long summer
around hot canning racks,
each winter around reluctant
lids of jam,

who tied herself back
into it after bearing
each of his children,
and grew old lacing herself
into her black shoes
and walking to the same
places, stove, dining room
and chickenhouse,

who marched right through
five decades with string beans
and bread and apple pie
for his hired men, who carried
him eggs for breakfast
through the great hurricane
and windstorms no one knew
about within,

lay apronless at the end
beside the pink flush
toilet Frank installed,
and with a far-off look
announced that in her final
rest, she wished
to lie by him,
the salesman

everyone but Bernice had forgot
died just after she married him,
at seventeen.

-Wesley McNair

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Wes McNair
Box 43
North Sutton, NH 03260

Dear Wes,

I like this one, and I will never like quite so much as
the other recent ones, as your best work – because it is an
anecdote only, because it depends upon a “trick ending,” and
it does not quite survive that… But it is good anyway. It
is just smaller.

And there is one problem with it, as I see it. That is
the meaning of the word “it” at the beginning. It could mean
“veil,” or “apron,” but as it used at the end of the third line,
by the sense of things, it must mean “apron”. But how do you
close an apron around a canning rack? Or close it in the winter
around reluctant lids of jam? In the latter case, maybe you
use it for friction to open the canning lids.

Obviously I am not getting something that you intend.
Obviously I think it is your fault… Maybe not.

The only other thing… I think that “a far-off look” is
pretty trite. Otherwise I like it a lot, and I certainly intend
to pass it onto Joey…but I think maybe you can touch it up a
tiny bit.

Joey is out digging up the sassafras root, so he can’t
speak.

Don

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Dear Don,

Could you and Jane come here for
dinner this month? – say, January
2! (a Friday), or maybe on the
19th or 20th? That would give us a
warm spot in a cold month—

7:00 PM—your choice of date, just let
me know—

Wes

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Love,

Don

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Dear Don,

Hooray for Joey Amaryllis! In spite
of the sub-zero weather, I am going ahead
with my own January thaw!

Joey can relax about the social security
number. I will take care of that, and,
I hope, have his $10 soon—enough for
his monthly outing at Blackwater Bill’s—
dinner, dessert, tip & gas!

Thanks for the notice.

Love,

Wes

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Dear Don,

I am sorry that you two can’t come over
this month, but I understand why not,
and I will write you again about it
in late February March.

In the meantime, here’s a poem which
I hope you’ll look at sometime between
readings and trips.

My best Christmas present was two
books by Donald Hall—The Weather for
Poetry and Claims for Poetry. I am
still poring over them and enjoying them.
With all the talk about the lack of
poetry criticism today, I’m glad to

2/

have so much of it (the criticism) at once!

Incidentally, I recently read for the first
time, and liked, the essays in Living off the Country,
from the Michigan series. It made me
go back to Haines’ poetry—especially that
of Winter News, which I had never seen
before.

Thanks for all that good reading!
Hope to see you and Jane soon –

Love,
Wes

WHAT SLAUGHTERED ANIMALS CANNOT FIND

The chickens cannot
find their heads
though they search for them,
falling in the grass.

And the great bulls
are now on their knees,
having no idea
of how to stand.

The sheep cannot find
their voices. They run quickly
on their sides,
watching the sky.

–Wesley McNair

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Wes McNair
Box 43
North Sutton, NH 03260

Dear Wes,

I take it that old Costanzo is keeping you waiting?

I’m not sure that the slaughtered animals comes entirely
together now… And I am sure that it is close. I’m not sure
about the title. The verb “find” doesn’t really work much
with the second stanza. I just think it might be called The
Slaughtered Animals… I like the first stanza perfectly.
In the second stanza, you have two very boring verbs – “are”
and “having.” I don’t think you could stand both of them.
What about: “And the great bull/ remain on their knees/ having
lost the idea/ of how to stand.” I’m not sure about the third
line in my version…

Then the sheep seems to me to give more problem. In the
other cases, the sheep cannot find their heads because they
are slaughtered… That is, the lack of heads and the slaughtering
are two sides of each other… Same with the bulls being unable
to stand… That is an immediate sign of their dying. Well,
things that are dead can’t talk either…but that isn’t what
you first think of. Chickens lose their heads, bulls fall to
the ground…sheep stop bleating? It seems more distant, some-
how. And then these – as opposed to the others, that do what
they really do – keep moving. Chickens do indeed keep moving,
after their heads are gone. And they might well be searching
for their heads… But not the sheep. I mean to say, it is
goofy and exciting – but I don’t think it adds up.

We look forward to seeing you later.

Glad you have been reading that writer you mentioned.
Did you see him in last Sunday’s New York Times, book review,
The Making of a Writer?

Yes, the Haines is wonderful. Maybe the Louis Simpson
is the best of all. Have you seen that one?

Love to you both,

Don

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Dear Don,

Thanks for your comments on the poem. I will put it far back
in the drawer with “The Wish” (the one about Bernice
Manchester). Both need much work, I see, but I don’t see
yet how to redo them. On to other poems!

I have not heard from Costanzo, though I did send
him the manuscript and a letter (I had sent him still
another copy of the manuscript and letters three months
earlier.) Since the judging must have been done some
time ago, I take it that Costanzo has singly forgotten
to contact me and say, “Sorry, pal,” or words to that
effect. Writing this, I’ve decided to write The Press
and see what happened to the manuscript.

I’ll let you know what I learn. I hope your “raids”
(Mark Twain’s word for his own readings and lectures)
are bringing you booty and satisfaction. Please congratulate
Jane on her New Yorker poem (read about it in the
Argus). She must feel great about that!

Love,

Wes

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Dear Wes,

I know that Costanzo is trying to balance
seventeen balls in the air at once… unable to
take books he wants to take, because of money –
waiting for money, hoping that it will come in so
that he can agree to print books. So I am not at
all sure that he has forgotten…much more likely
that he is temporizing.

Jane is embarrassed that Charlotte must have
put that New Yorker sale in the paper! Funny…

Love as ever,
Don

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Dear Don,

“Great Day in the Cow’s House” is a beautiful
poem—lovely and full and visionary.

What dimension that paragraph 5 gives
the poem!

It is one of your best, I think. Reading
it has made my day.

Wes

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Dear Wes—

Delighted you find
my cows have made
it!

You & Jane in the
Feb Poetry together,
& you in Atlantic…
all over the place!

Love,

Don

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Dear Don—

Enclosed are a couple of letters, one from Costanzo
to me, the other from me to him. They will explain
the current situation with Carnegie-Mellon—good,
though still iffy. I thought Joey might want to
have them.

For your—and his—information, I have sent
the book to AWP, Walt Whitman, and
the National Poetry Series. Please let me know
if you think I should send it to U Missouri—
Is the so-called “Breakthrough Series” there
a good thing to shoot for—or not?

Finally saw your NYTimes article, and
enjoyed it. I believe a published book would
not “sustain” me—but I still want one!

Love,

Wes

PS—Thanks for the Atlantic Monthlys!

February 1, 1983

Dear Wesley McNair,

I’m sorry not to have responded sooner. We began reading
manuscripts in November and we received so many more than we’d
expected to that we didn’t finish until mid-January. The real
bind we’ve found ourselves in is a financial one however.
NEA eliminated “General programs” to which we apply and put
university presses in with small presses. This decision was
announced two weeks about the deadline for small press applications
and they would not accept late applications. We are in the
same boat as Pitt, Georgia, and others. We miss a year of
finding from them and cannot hope for any funds until Sept. of
this year. I’d hoped to get some additional funding for
poetry from the university, but it didn’t happen. What this
means is that we’ll only be able to produce three books in 1983
instead of six to eight. These books are in progress now
and were accepted last year.

Out of the latest round of readings the only manuscripts I’d
want to publish are yours and Patricia Goedicke’s, and I’m
sorry I can’t offer each of you contracts right now. I’m not
permitted to offer contracts withoutactual (sic) money in place to
produce the book.

I’d like to ask if you’d be willing to let me keep a copy of
your manuscript until September. No doubt you have it circulating
elsewhere and to continue to do so would be fine with me. I
can’t guarantee you anything because I have no guarantee that
I’ll ever have money for poetry again. But I hope to, and as
you know from last year, I like your manuscript. Certainly I’ll
be able to give you a decision by then. I don’t want you feeling
in limbo (like I feel), and continuing to circulate your manuscript
should help that. If you’re agreeable, I’d like you to let me
know as soon as possible. Again, I’m sorry I can’t offer to
publish it right now: THE FACES OF AMERICANS is a terrific book!

Yours,
Gerald Constanzo

February 7, 1983

Dear Jerry Costanzo:

Thank you for your letter. I am sorry to hear about your problem
with funds. It is bad news—easily as bad for you as for me. I
can imagine how frustrating the N.E.A. switch must have been,
given the publication schedule you had hoped for.

Still, I am very glad you like my book well enough that you
might want to publish it. I do understand that there are no
guarantees here, and why there can be none. But I would be
most pleased to have you do the book, if that should turn out
to be possible. I am therefore entirely willing that you keep a
copy of the manuscript until September, when you will be better
able to make your decision.

On the chance you may not be able to publish my manuscript, I
will continue to circulate it, as you suggest. In the meantime,
thank you very much for taking the time to fill me in on your
predicament. And thanks especially for saying my book is
“terrific”. Your enthusiasm continues to sustain me, in spite
of all!

Sincerely,

Wesley McNair

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Wes McNair
Box 43
North Sutton, NH 03260

Dear Wes,

Good to have your letter, and I am pleased
with the letter from Costanzo. I think that
that publication seems highly likely. The
letter means exactly what it says, and nothing
more…and it could be (one must always remember
it!) that by the time he gets more funding (assum-
ing that he gets it) he will have discovered
several manuscripts which have displaced
The Faces in his affections. It is always possible…
But I don’t think it is ruddy likely, and I think
that there is some security in having this
probability to fall back on – and in the meantime
we keep busy. You and me both.

Love as ever,

Don

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Dear Don,

Do you think this poem is better
with the word “begun” in line 7,
to prepare the reader for the double negatives
(mistaken verbs) on p. 2?

If you do, please tell Joey that
next time the poem goes out (if it’s
in the mail now), he might send this
very slightly revised version.

Thank you.

Love,

Wes

I am in good company in the February poetry–!
Just got my copy today & found, as you said
I would, poems by Jane Kenyon!

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Wes McNair

Dear Wes,

Looks good to me. Will do…

Best as ever,

Don

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Dear Don,

This is without a doubt bad timing, but I believe I have
just decided on the proper form for my book. I wish I could have
made the changes you’ll find in the enclosed earlier. In any case,
they are not extensive ones. I have taken out five poems and
added two new ones. The poems I’ve deleted are: For My Father,
The Thin Man, the two verses on “fat”, and Beggars. I hope I can
put these in a future volume, but I’ve come to feel they interfere
with the shape that’s possible without them. The poems I’ve added
are: Small Towns Are Passing [& “After the Ice”]. Also, I’ve added chapter headings
derived from poem titles–this to explain the movement of a journey
backward in time–and I’ve put back the citation from Roethke, again
to underscore the idea of the journey. It seems to me that the new
text is more coherent and gives the poems of the book a new interest
and resonance.

I imagine the manuscript you have is out right now–in which
case, I hope you’ll just leave it wherever it is. I’m assuming that
the changes are not so significant they can’t be discussed later
if Joey should happen to hit. If your manuscript is returned for
other submissions, the enclosed could be mailed.

Unless, of course, you and Joey feel that the enclosed is
awful. Please let me know what you do think, when you can. Also,
please tell me if this month is still open for a possible dinner
here…I enclose a check taken from the Poetry money I got. Sorry
for the delay; I kept forgetting!

Love,

Wes

[Click image to view]

Wesley McNair

Dear Wes,

It looks good to me. You left out some
good stuff…but it looks very good to me. Let
us go with this.

Best as ever,

Don

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Dear Don,

I’m glad you like the new
arrangement for the book well enough
not to object.

I need to re-ask a couple of questions,
which will require only the briefest of
responses. First, what do you think of
my sending the book to U. Missouri
(the Devins Award)? Would publication
there give the poems as much “play”
as publication at Carnegie-Mellon
would? Second, can you and Jane
come over sometime during this month
for dinner, or is it another hectic
time for you both?

I have sent the new version of the
book to Pittsburgh, and I will be
sending 5 poems to Houghton-Mifflin
in May. Aside from U/MO, these are
the only places I can think of for now.

Best to you & your writing,

Wes

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Wes McNair

Dear Wes,

I think it is a good idea to send the book
to the Univ. of Missouri for the Devins Award.
Oddly enough, it is Jerry Costanzo who is my
authority for that judgment. He takes that award
very seriously.

I think it would be equal to the Carnegie-
Mellon.

Jane and I would love to come over. We are
both teetotal just now. Me permanently. Can you
stand it?

Best as ever,

Don

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Wes McNair

Dear Wes,

Saturday the 9th it is. What time? On the
first day I am getting back from Tennessee, and it
is Good Friday, and visitors, the next day… On
the 8th we have a visitor for a good part of the
day anyway. We look forward to it.

Best as ever,

Don

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Dear Don,

Glad to know you are coming this
Saturday. Did I say when the show
starts? 6:30 PM. See you then.

Wes

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Dear Don,

I hope you like this. Please let me
know!

Love,

Wes

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Dear Don,

I made a mistake on the first
verb of “The Portuguese Dictionary.”
The verb should be CAME, not WENT.

Wes

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Wes McNair

Dear Wes and Diane,

What a pleasure to see you – and to eat
Diane’s cooking! Just lovely… And the poem
is wonderful. The more I read it the more I love
it. No problems with it at all. Beautiful.

Don

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Wes and Diane McNair

Dear Wes and Diane,

Can you please come to supper at six o’clock
on May 7th? I hope so.

Love as ever,

Don

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Wes McNair
Box 43
North Sutton, NH

Dear Wes,

Iowa Review took “The Longing of the
Feet.” Please address this biographical
information sheet to D. Hines/ Iowa Review/
308 EPB/ University of Iowa/ Iowa City, IA 52242.

Love,

Don

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Dear Don,

I’ve just discovered something I should have
thought of before I responded to your dinner
invitation. I will be teaching a class at New
Hampshire College (the first class of a 2-month
course) and therefore will not be able to get to
your house until 7:00.

If the delay does not matter that much to
you and Jane, we’d of course be glad to
come anyway. But I assume the delay does
matter, and that we’d better come at some other
time. In either case, I apologize for my
absent-mindedness. (Someday I will trade my
head in for one with fewer spaces.)

Please let me know where we go from here!

Love,

Wes

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Dear Don,

What good news about Iowa Review! Thanks.
I have sent the bio notes in, as you requested.

I enclose a copy of “The Portuguese Dictionary”,
as I believe your copy has a cross-out
on it. Please use the enclosed as the
“official” version.

I imagine, somehow, that Peter Davison
might like “When Paul Flew Away” and “Mute”.
Did Joey imagine the same thing, by any
chance?

I have gotten a new letter from Jerry
(we are now “Jerry” and “Wes”) Costanzo,
who for some reason speaks no “if’s” now
in discussing publication of my book.

Printing it through Carnegie-Mellon seems even
more likely.

Which is OK with me–for more reasons
than the obvious one. I do not wish to be at
Colby more than two years longer. The old
girl now seems certain to founder. If she
doesn’t, there will be no fun on deck.
Diane and I are already preparing ourselves–
psychologically, right now–to push off.

Thanks again for the invitation–I do
hope we can work something out (pen died.)
for that Saturday, or maybe for a
Friday sometime soon.

Love,

Wes

[Click image to view]

Love,

Don

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Wes McNair
Box 43
North Sutton, NH 03260

Dear Wes,

It will be lovely to see you on Saturday, 7 o’clock
or whenever.

I love the Portuguese Dictionary. Peter Davison sees
everything.

Very good news about Jerry. What did he say about
publication of the book? Is he talking dates?

I am writing however about something else, which we
may not be able to talk about Saturday. I am not sure
about the politics of it. (A couple of other C-S sorts will
be here.)

You write “I do not wish to be at Colby more than two
years longer.” Now it may well fold and you will have to get
another job. But please do not think that because you have a
book you will be able to get a job. It is terribly, terribly
hard to get a job these days. I have watched Richard Tillinghast
struggle for three years, with three books from the Wesleyan
University Press. Last year I was down seeing David Bottoms –
winner of the Walt Whitman Award, his book published by
Random House or somebody with an introduction by Robert Penn
Warren…and he had been looking for work for three years with
absolute unsuccess.

It is terribly hard out there. Some of the best teachers
I know, some of them with books, have had to give up college
teaching entirely and go into other kinds of work. Others have
gone into prep school teaching. People with MFAs, many many
people with Ph.D.s, and with books, cannot find jobs.

I would keep a close eye on New Hampshire College, for
that matter… Some people of course put a living together
by teaching one course there and one course there…totally exhausting.
Much worse than your present job at Colby-Sawyer. But it is
better than the alternative.

A book will not help much. I get the impression that you
think it will. Of course it is better than not having one!
But a book does not get you a job. It once did. It no longer
does. There are fewer jobs and more books.

Please understand that I am speaking nothing about quality,
and when I speak nothing about quality, I am realistic. The people
who do the hiring – and I mean not just the Deans but the Professors

2/

of English and the chairman of departments – they know nothing
about quality. It is all “subjective,” you see. They look into
other things – and what they look into is the Prestige Index.
A book will help. The Atlantic and Poetry will help…but
you may well be up against people who have published a book
(far inferior to yours!) which won the Walt Whitman Award
and was published by a big New York publisher and had an
introduction by Robert Penn Warren! Who can’t get the job.

My point is: Start looking now. Stick to the job at
Colby-Sawyer as long as there is a job at Colby-Sawyer. Look
around for other parttime jobs besides New Hampshire College
in case worse comes to worse. Investigate every opportunity
everywhere. And of course, listen to my advice, who speak
as the ultimate oracle!

Love to you,

Don

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Dear Don,

Thanks again for the pleasant evening
at Eagle Pond Farm.

A post mortem: I did remember to
write “thirty five years” in that poem
The Portuguese Dictionary–rather than
“twenty five years”–didn’t I?

Wes

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Dear Mr. Amaryllis,

Thanks for letting us see Wesley
McNair’s poems. The ones we particularly
like are

“Mute”
“Big Cars”.

Glad to have those for POETRY.

Best wishes to you and Mr. McNair.

John F. Nims

[Click image to view]

Notice of Acceptance

The editors of POETRY are pleased to accept the
following for publication:

MUTE
BIG CARS

Wesley McNair
c/o Amaryllis Inc.
Box 71
Potter Place, NH 03265

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Wesley McNair
Box 43
North Sutton, NH 03260

Dear Wes,

John Frederick Nims is nearly relentless!

I cannot find my notes. Which is the poem
that Iowa took?

Does it seem definite enough with Jerry,
so that I should not send the manuscript out
elsewhere? (I have it back just now.) I am
wondering: suppose somebody else took it, then
would you feel embarrassed about withdrawing
it from Costanzo? A delirious thought of
embarrassment, heaven knows…but I wonder.

Best as ever,

Don

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Dear Don,

Thank you, thank you for your note about the Poetry
acceptances. You’ve made my day.

Your note arrived just as I heard (belatedly)
about your being chosen for the Hale medal.
I am very pleased for you, especially since Frost got
it first. There’s nobody who deserves it more.

The poem Iowa took is “The Longing of the Feet”…
About the definiteness of the CMU connection. All
I can say is that Jerry Costanzo seems serious,
but has himself mentioned that I should
continue sending it elsewhere until September.

So I guess you should continue sending it.

Best to you both–and to Jane–

Wes

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Wes McNair
Box 43
North Sutton, NH

Dear Wes,

Thanks for the poem. I don’t like this one so much, and
I cannot tell how much of it is the poem, and how much of it is
my incomprehension… I am not sure. I think that the faith
healer is speaking. But at the end, is it that he falls down
and holds onto the boy’s wheelchair, or do we learn that he is
in a wheelchair himself? I am troubled by the dialect, or what-
ever we call it when the writer does a spoken grammar. It
doesn’t sound real to me – but I don’t mean to say that it is
not real, not even like a transcription. I find it unconvincing.
Joey will be happy to send it out anyway. But it is not one
of my favorites, or not yet at any rate. I suppose I’m not
quite sure how the father did it, when the boy remains only
a chest, no limbs at all apparently. And I guess the whole
thing doesn’t especially add up to me. Sorry about that.

In general I save things until the New Yorker opens up,
as you know.

Love as ever,

Don

[Click image to view]

Dear Don,

Just got news that my manuscript made the
final round for the Devins Award in the U.-
Missouri Breakthrough Series. I am supposed to
learn who won later this month. Here we go
again! I am trying to “expect nothing”.

More later.

Best,

Wes

[Click image to view]

Dear Wes,

Good news about the
Devin’s Award. You must
realize that the “Final Round”
might be fifty or a hundred
books. Expect nothing! except
in general…

Love,

Don

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Dear Don,

Just wanted you to know, while you are toting up
tributes for your special issue of Ploughshares,
that “Old Trees” was requested the other day
for The Anthology of Magazine Verse & Yearbook
of American Poetry, 1984.

Will see you (if you’re there when we go)
in Peterborough!

Love,

Wes

[Click image to view]

Dear Don–

Thanks for the straight talk
about the poem–even though in
this particular case, it hurts.

I find that I (stupidly enough)
forgot to mention my pleasure
at seeing your poem in the
Atlantic. Always liked that one!

Will hang onto “The Faith Healer”
until the end of the summer &
then have another go at it for
new submissions.

Best,

Wes

[Click image to view]

Dear Don,

Thought you might want to see Costanzo’s
response to my letter about the Devins Award.
I was awfully pleased with his comments
about the Award, my book and future possibilities
at Carnegie-Mellon. (As you know, I am more
than half finished with book II.) Not the best
idea, probably, to photocopy someone else’s letter
and send it, but I can’t imagine Gerry
would mind my showing it to you.

Calls back and forth have already begun
with U/Missouri. Wonderfully enough, they
are interested in my ideas about the
book jacket–and other matters of presentation.

2/

I was happy to learn from Greg Martin,
their sales person, that advertising for the
book, among academic journals and poetry
magazines, will be extensive.

How wonderful it is to be writing about
a book!

We will be at your play on August 23.
Then there’s that Hale Award! You do make
our month busy!

Love,

Wes

P.S. Were you aware that Frost, the first recipient
of the Hale Award, wrote a parody of Sarah Josepha
Hale’s poem, “Mary Had a Little Lamb”? (I got
this from Raymond Holden, the poet, who spoke about
Frost in Newport before he (Holden) died.):

“Mary had a little lamb;
His name was Jesus Christ.
God, not Joseph, was the ram,
But Joseph acted nice.”
–!

——————————————————
482 Queen Anne Road
Harwich, MA 02645
August 15, 1983

Dear Wes,

Congratulations! I’m very happy for you even though a bit disappointed
that it won’t be us this time around. I think the Devins is a terrific
award. I won it and they published my first book in 1975. A year later
they produced an LP record which featured a reading of mine and the
following year’s winner. Ed King and his people have always been more
than kind to me. Missouri’s distribution is much better now that Harper
& Row is distributing for them, too.

The only problem, as you already seem to gather, is that they don’t do
any “second” books by people they begin with. But you’ll find that I’ve
been rather partial to former Devins winners at Carnegie-Mellon. Winners
I’ve published books by are John Calvin Rezmerski, Peter Cooley (not a winner
but a runner-up who they did anyway), Jonathon Holden, and Ed Ochester.

I might say that as far as I’m concerned your manuscript is the best
one to win that award in ages (probably since mine, he said humbly) and
I’m really pleased. We were to have visited Hall’s this weekend and I
was hoping to meet you, but those plans have fallen through. But have
Missouri send me a copy when it is out and we’ll review it in Three Rivers
Poetry Journal. When I get back to Pittsburgh I’ll send my copy back
to you.

Again, congratulations. This is something you really deserve.

Yours,

Jerry

[Click image to view]

Dear Don,

If in this period of your crazy activity you get
a moment free, will you please take a look at the enclosed
and tell me what you think?

We look forward mightily to your play.

Love,

Wes

REMEMBERING APRONS

Who recalls the darkness
of your other life,
sewn shut

around feed grain,
or remembers your release
to join your sisters,

the dishcloths, now
ampleness and holes? Not
the absent hands

that tied you
behind the back,
already forgetting. Old

stove-gloves,
soft baskets
for tomatoes,

how thoughtlessly
they used you, and yet
how wonderful

in being left out
was your inclusion! Oh
tough dresses

without closets,
lovely petticoats
that flashed

beneath the frayed
hemlines of barncoats
all over Vermont.

–Wesley McNair

[Click image to view]

Wes McNair
Box 43
North Sutton, NH 03260

Dear Wes,

As you suspected, I cannot read the poem
now.

Very nice letter from Costanzo. I come
to trust him more and more. I was a little
leery of him, when I first met him.

It is very good about the second book
business. I should say that David Godine has
expressed some guarded interest also.

I wired him not to come that weekend,
chiefly because we were semi-hysterical with
visitors and work and the play… Then in
fact Jane went into the hospital, by ambulance!
She will be all right. It looked as if it could
be something awful, but it isn’t. It is a severe
infection of the inner ear causing total
vertigo etc. She still cannot read – but she
is perceptively better.

He wrote me as he wrote you, and over the
telephone spoke of his hope he could do a book
by you in the future… Money in the bank!

Love as ever,

Don

[Click image to view]

Dear Don,

The news about Jane is upsetting. I’m certainly glad to learn she
is now “perceptively better”, and I do hope you pass on Diane’s and my
best wishes. I also hope that your period of chaos will soon pass.

In the meantime, please forget about that poem–or any other–
until I send along a group for submission. I will be giving
you slightly revised versions of the “Paul” poem, “The Faith
Healer” and maybe “Aprons”, too. Also, I’ll retype a couple
or three which have not been sold yet, so you’ll have them all
together. Finally, even though summer has been full of work
to pay for Sean’s college, I expect to have a couple of new pieces.

They play was wonderful. There were certain parts of it, particularly
in the last act, which I want to talk with you about (I hope
we can do that when we get together for dinner). But I
found so much of it so very moving. And of course the audience
was just mad for the thing. You have a deadly ear for the
speech, tone and humor of this area’s people. I’m sure
that, as much as the play’s content, was what got to those who
were there on Tuesday night.

I am, of course, delighted with the possibility of publishing
a second book with Costanzo. It’s also good to know of the
“guarded interest” of Godine, and I thank you for your
efforts there.

We could not, as it turned out, get to the Hale Award ceremony.
I would have liked to see the presentation and to hear the reading
that went with it–but I had to lecture in Claremont, a
very poor substitute. Congratulations, anyway. One more medal for the
uniform, already sagging with decorations!

Love to you and especially to woeful Jane,

Wes

Just got the contract (I’m sending a copy) from
U/Missouri Press. Could you look it over and see if it’s OK?
Sorry to be a pest, but I am at a loss about these things—

Many thanks,

Wes

Oh–please send it back!

[Click image to view]

Wes McNair

Dear Wes,

The contract is OK. The royalty stinks – but not to worry.
They’re just cutting their losses. I don’t think they should
exempt the first five hundred from royalties…and I think they
should pay ten per cent of retail…but giving you five hundred
dollars pretty much makes up the difference! You probably will
not see anything after that five hundred, but it does not matter –
the book’s the thing. And copyright reverts to you after it goes
out of print – the most important single item in the contract.
(There have been occasions on which a publisher has published a
book of poems, let it go out of print, and then retained ownership
in the poems – so that when the poor poet wants to reprint the
best of his poems for a Selected Poems, or for virtually ever in
anthologies, the original rotten publisher keeps getting money for
the poems! No problem here.)

Jane is perceptibly-better. She can read a tiny bit of print
now, for a short time. Very slow – but definitely in the right
direction!

OK, I will hold off on that poem until I get it from you again
with others.

Could you possibly drop me a note about the problems in the
last act, at some point? But we look forward to seeing you also.
But I don’t know when that will be!

Love to you both as ever,

Don

[Click image to view]

Wes McNair
North Sutton
NH

Dear Wes,

The poetry issue of the Argus Champion!
It is lovely to see you getting a bit of
attention…
Delighted with your dear mentions of me, in
this interview…

Here is a copy, in case you would like
it… If you do not need it, could you please
return it to me? I have in mind to send it to
a guy who writes articles for the New Hampshire
Times, with the suggestion that he do a piece
on you…but I send it to you first in case
you would like to keep it. The other thing
is pure speculation…

Best as ever,

Don

[Click image to view]

Wes McNair
Box 43
North Sutton, NH 03260

Dear Wes,

That is an extraordinarily helpful letter about the play…
Later this week, I am going to dictate a whole bunch of notes –
partly based on your letter, partly based on things I have
been thinking about for the last twelve months… I won’t
foreshadow what I say… I will be looking for more help on
the play! But really, this was very very useful.

It is totally unbelievable that the book will be ready
in December! I cannot believe that…

I have one thing to tell you that you will not [want to] hear:
try terribly hard not to rush the second book! Absolutely
everybody, and not only Wes McNair who has had to wait so damned
long, tends to rush the second book. I did. Name me one poet
who didn’t? Well, old Jane Kenyon is making it at least five
years, probably six.. I don’t mean that you have to wait five years
or possibly six… I do mean that you should not, please, shoot
for April!

I should say that I had the manuscript of a second book
at Viking within twelve months of the time they published Exiles
and Marriages… Then they persuaded me to wait – but I came
out with The Dark Houses three years after Exiles…and it was
too soon.

We must fear depression; we must fear elation… My play
was a tremendous high; my play was a tremendous low… There is
no avoiding this, unless we stop being poets and writers…

Thank you as ever for your good help.

Love to you all,

Don

[Click image to view]

Dear Don,

Silly, perhaps, but I want you to know that the Argus
article about Wesley McNair misquoted me in the section about
the “major publishing house” (by which was meant Harper & Row).
The article said the major publishing house dropped my book
“from the publication schedule”, then “stopped doing books of poetry.”

I said the book had been dropped before it was put on the
publication schedule. Then (at some other point) I talked of other
commercial houses that have stopped doing poetry.

And there was other misinformation, less consequential.
But this particular instance was serious enough, I thought,
for at least a few words on this card to let you know I still
remember how it really happened at H & R.

–Wes

[Click image to view]

Dear Don,

Thank you for the advice about the second volume.
“April” was mentioned in the interview because
I thought (then) that the book (the present one)
was coming out then. But I must not rush
with book II, you are right, and I will
certainly not send off a volume that you and
Joey are not convinced of. Right now I figure
I have 15 or so good poems, some culled from
revisions of book I, some new…

By the way, please tell Joey my submission
to him this fall will be a late one. All
my running this summer to get dollars for
Sean’s college left me somewhat distracted,
even though I kept a fairly regular writing
schedule. Now, I’m preparing for the term

2/

at Colby–with some extra teaching to make ends meet.
Still, I look forward to long mornings of writing,
beginning next week.

I am awfully glad my letter about your play
was helpful. I do love the play. It is
extraordinary with no revision at all! Best to Jane!

Love,

Wes

P.S. I return the clipping, with thanks
for your sending it. It’s now ready for
the NH Times, the NY Times, Time,
or whatever!

[Click image to view]

Wes McNair

Dear Wes,

Thanks for the clip. I handle the public rela-
tions, Joey just does sales. Joey says get the lead
out.

Best as ever,

Don

[Click image to view]

Dear Don,

When you can find a minute, will you please
look these over?

(Maybe) they will be part of the fall
submission. Will that submission include
“The Minister’s Death”, “When Paul Flew Away”,
“My Brother in the Revolving Doors”, “The Before
People”–too [+ Portuguese Dictionary]? And if so, do you need
new copies of any or all?

Have just sent proofed, pre-galleys
manuscript to U/MO–am told sketches for
the book cover will arrive this week, and
galleys in 3 weeks. They say they will set
a record with this one for the fastest book
they’ve ever done!

Best,

Wes

[Click image to view]

Wes McNair

Dear Wes,

I said I was going to write you a long letter
about your letter about the play… Now I don’t
think I will. Maybe we can talk about it. Jane
is better…but she will not be all better for some
time. It is still unpleasant to ride, but she can
do most other things. Maybe we can get together.
I am away all next week…then I’m home for a bit.

Love as ever,

Don

[Click image to view]

Dear Don (or Joey),

Gerald Costanzo has asked me to send poems to the
Three Rivers Poetry Journal, but I am reluctant because I’d
rather try to publish in magazines with bigger names at
this point. Perhaps I should wait and see which poems
do not make it into those mags in the current cycle–
then send some of the then unpublished verses to Costanzo.

What do you think?

Wes

[Click image to view]

Wesley McNair

Dear Wes,

I think the new batch is great and Joey is
ready to send them out if you are.

The others will continue to go out. No new
copies needed. I take it of course that none of
them are in the manuscript about coming out. I
also take it that you have handled the permissions
business, and that none of them were forthcoming
poems – I mean, in the new book. Amazing about the
speed of the book.

What about the Portuguese? Are there others?

Best as ever,

Don

[Click image to view]

Dear Don,

I’m sorry to hear that Jane can’t ride comfortably.
That leaves out plans for a dinner–for now, anyway.
But yes, maybe we could get together sometime soon. I hope so.

You ask whether you now have any poems that are
forthcoming in the book. I assume you know that “After
the Ice” is in the book, since I sent you a revised
copy of the manuscript with that poem in the last section.
None of the other poems you have is in the book. And yes,
I have gotten permission to reprint all poems previously
published.

Just to make sure about which poems you should have,
I offer the following list of titles which are not in the
book, or in any magazine thus far: When Paul Flew Away;
The Portuguese Dictionary (you ask, “What about The Portuguese?”–
I meant this poem); My Brother Inside the Revolving
Doors; The Before People; The Minister’s Death; The Faith
Healer; Remembering Aprons; Killing the Animals; The Last
Time Shorty Towers Fetched the Cows.

I’m curious: Are there no reservations about

2/

The Faith Healer? I did revise it some after you wrote
your misgivings about the poem this past summer. But
I will remember the misgivings–

Well. If there are none now, about this or
any of the other poems, I’d love to have Joey
send them out.

Please give dear, ailing Jane a pat from us.

Love to you both,

Wes

PS–Neurotically enough, I’m curious if I remembered
to put an exclamation point after the word
“inclusion” in the third-from-last stanza of
Remembering Aprons. I note that I didn’t have one
in the copy I typed for myself. Would you please check?

[Click image to view]

Wes McNair

Dear Wes,

I think that it would be a good idea to send
Costanzo some poems – because it is not a bad maga-
zine, because he has been your fan, because it might
be helpful to have him in your corner, for the next
book.

The older poems that you mentioned are still out
at various magazines. When they come back, why
don’t I send them to you, for you to send to Constanzo?
I think perhaps it
would be better if you sent poems to him, rather than
Joey. But be sure to keep everything straight with
[typed on other side of postcard] old Joey… Joey will be in
touch.

Best wishes,

Don

[Click image to view]

October 1983
Box 43
North Sutton, NH 03260

Dear Wes,

Thanks for the letter. I dictate this on Sunday, October
2nd, but will not be able to mail it for a week, because I leave
early tomorrow morning and will be gone all week. Therefore the
poems will not go out until next week – but that is just as well.
The New Yorker is absolutely overwhelmed in the month of September…
probably better to delay until mid-October. I generally do
myself.

I should say that I intend to send some poems to
Costanzo, when I get a chance. It is not a bad magazine, of
the second rank…and he has been such a good friend to poetry –
not to mention us.

Jane can ride comfortably as far as the Hideaway. Or
her discomfort is not debilitating… But Boston – and a sub-
sequent airplane ride – is out, for the moment.

I did not recognize that “After the Ice”, still submitted
to a magazine, was in the book coming out so soon. That is,
I did not go through the Table of Contents, after the book was
accepted, to see if anything was out. You can count on me not to,
I suppose. You can also count on my not to remember things!
I believe it is because of the multiplicity of details in my
life – three to four thousand letters a year – rather than
Alzheimer’s… I am much worse on the telephone. I always
talk with people – about a reading, about a recommendation or
something – and end by saying: please write me a letter and tell
me what I just said. It is always wise to remind me of things, I
am sorry to say. I do forget a lot.

No sweat. I will write a note to the magazine that has
“After the Ice,” and it will also serve to remind them that they
have had some poems for a long time.

You did put the exclamation point in, that you were asking
about.

I have a couple of minor reservations here and there…but
I really like The Faith Here Healer, and I think I read it better now.
I think my first reading was not terribly good.

Best as ever,

Don

[Click image to view]

Dear Don,

I’m in the process of preparing my dossier with AWP for a
job search, and I would like to have three or four up-to-date
letters in my file. Would you be willing to update the letter you
wrote for me three years ago? I would be happy to get AWP to send
you the letter you wrote then, if you’d like.

As I guess you know, things have gone from bad to worse at
Colby-Sawyer. Enrollment is now at 405 “full-time equivalents”.
The faculty has had no raise for two years, and while one is promised
for later on this year, the extra money won’t go far–especially
since we have begun this fall making “donations” (as the adminis-
tration calls them) to our medical and dental benefits. Worst of
all, I am forced to work more and more outside the college to pay
my bills–thus, there’s less time for poetry.

Not that the Devins Award–or any award–will get me a job in
the current climate. But with one kid in college, and the other
soon to be there, I must have job security, and a bigger salary–
or lat least the opportunity, through a job in some state university
system, to get my kids free tuition.

I enclosed a stamped, addressed envelope, in the hope you will
be able to use it for a recommendation letter, whenever you may
have a moment to spare. Incidentally, I’ve just furnished U/
Missouri with galley corrections. The thing is now in production,
believe it or not, to be completed before the end of November.
I can’t wait!

Please pass on our very best to Jane.

Love,

Wes

[Click image to view]

Wesley McNair
Box 43
North Sutton, NH 03260

Dear Wes,

I think it would be best if I saw the old
letter. Please get them to send it to me.
Then I will bring it up to date and get it
back to them right away.

I think it might be best if I did not
seem to contradict myself, which I might possibly
do, according to the vagaries of the moment.
I mean, simply by calling attention to one
thing rather than another…

I don’t actually know much about Colby-
Sawyer. I think that Jack Jensen may have the
blinders on, and of course Carl – whom I see
from time to time – is retired.

I am so frightened for you all! Awful.
And of course it is not only awful for the
future – it is pretty awful in the present.

Sometimes I hear about jobs on the market.
I know of nothing right now. I will not forget
you – much as I would hate to think of you going
to West Texas or anything… Love as ever,

Don

[Click image to view]

Wes McNair

Dear Wes,

I just dictated the new letter to AWP – having
received a copy of the old on Saturday. If it
looks OK when it gets typed up, I will mail it to-
day. If it doesn’t, I will mail it Friday or Sat-
urday.

In the meantime, we look forward immensely
to seeing you Friday night. Hooray for the celebra-
tion.

Love to you both,

Don

[Click image to view]

Wes McNair
Box 43
North Sutton, NH

Dear Wes,

Maybe my praise of Ironwood is eccentric…
but it is good, and Cuddihy is hard to satisfy.
I’m delighted.

There is a bunch of four poems which has
been turned down by a lot of good places –
other poems snatched away from their companion –
ship. I wonder if you would be interested in
letting Costanzo see them? I speak of The Minister’s
Death, Thruway, My Brother Inside… The Before
People…

There is another bunch at the New Yorker
right now of course.

Of course there are other magazines –
possibly more prestigious than Three Rivers…
but, as you know, I think it might be a good
notion.

If you want to do it, just send your
copies yourself in your own name directly to
Gerry… Then, when he replies, if he does
not take all of them, just let me know which
ones are still available…

2/

But if you would rather Joey sent them out
elsewhere, just say the word.

Best as ever,

Don

[Click image to view]

Dear Don,

Thank you for the note–and again to
Joey for the Ironwood.

I will send the poems you mentioned
to Jerry Costanzo–excepting, that is
Thruway, which I’m currently disenchanted
with.

How do you like my paper? I didn’t think
I ordered this short stationery, so had
to re-order the long stuff. Soon, everyone
will begin to imagine I am professional
and thoroughly organized!

Love to you and our
afflicted friend, Jane,

Wes

[Click image to view]

Wesley McNair

Dear Wes,

Yes, I think that is terrific stationery. How
do you like mine?

Do let me know what happens with Jerry…and
remember that I never remember anything!

Best as ever,

Don

[Click image to view]

Dear Don,

Latest on the book is it will be ready at the bindery by
November 28–then will be shipped to Harper & Row for distribution.
The damn cover will be blue! I do hope they know what they’re doing!
Got a letter today from the Missouri English department which contains
the happy news that they are impressed–very impressed, they say–with
my resume and want to consider me for interviewing. That’s the good
news news–this even before seeing my dossier. The bad news is that
the job may not get funded.

I may have more news about the job hunt when we arrive
at your house next week. We look forward mightily to that boiled
dinner! (So does Lilly, whom I talked to last night.) See you then!

Love,

Wes

[Click image to view]

Dear Don,

Thank you for the dinner. It was knockout,
especially that corned beef, cut thick as
pork chops!

I woke up the next day thinking I’d been a
bit hard on old Colby-Sawyer. It’s not the college’s
fault, after all, if that article in US News has
its share of hype. I too hope things work out for
the place. And I hope for various reasons I won’t
be there soon.

You are both great to ask me over with the
book. Probably it will come on Tuesday, but I
will call before I come.

Love,

Wes

[Click image to view]

Dear Don,

This is about a couple of things I got
in the mail upon delivering my other letter
for you.

First: Jerry Costanzo wants the three
poems–“The Minister’s Death”, “The Before
People” and “My Brother Inside the Revolving
Doors”–for the next issue of Three Rivers
Poetry Journal. He wants to italicize the
word “Before” in the title of the second poem
listed above. I don’t like the idea much. What
do you think?

The second thing: U/Missouri Press is asking

2/

for names and addresses of (1) magazines,
and (2) “reviewers or persons in your field”
who might receive review copies of my book.
If you have time in the next three or four
days before I come over, would you think
about possibilities in the above areas?
Wes

P.S. Costanzo’s poets for the CMU series
in 1984 are Dunn, Ochester, Wallace,
Meek and Wier. That seems respectable.
It suddenly occurs to me that Jane might
submit there. Has she thought of that?

[Click image to view]

Wes McNair
Box 43
North Sutton, NH

Dear Wes,

Like all poets, you are too modest! We found out in the
paper that you are reading Wednesday night, December 6th…
Well, you did allude to it, in connection with selling books –
but I didn’t really get it. I will be in Oberlin that night.
Jane is coming back that day from Boston, having read the night
before at the Blacksmith… I don’t know whether she will get there
either. I am sorry to miss it.

It was so good to see you here the other day.

Best as ever, heaven knows, to both of you from both of us,

P.S. Got your two notes, before this went out…

Corned beef as thick as pork chops…what a good title!

You are unhappy about Colby-Sawyer…and I think you have
every reason to be…but we do want the place to survive, selfishly
I suppose… We also want you to stay around here – but that is
pure selfishness! I can manage, with a small and disinterested
part of my soul, to wish you a good job elsewhere… You and I
are good correspondents anyway, so if you are in Missouri or
San Diego, we will Stay in Touch, like they say…

We do Look for the Book… I don’t depart until Sunday,
December 3rd, and I am back Wednesday night December 7th…

I’m delighted that Jerry wants those three poems! Excellent…
It sure does mean that his interest remains keen! Yes, I think
his list is good also. Jane doesn’t want to try to him, I think,
because of his connection with me. But I will bring it up…
I don’t think she will try there.

If it were me, I would allow him to italicize the word “before”
in the title, and then when I saw it in the magazine, I would think
about whether I liked it or not…You can always change it when
you do your book.

I am going into some italics in the Sewanee Review, with
a poem, which I think I will leave off in the book… At the
suggestion of the editor, whose interest I am pleased to have…
But I have told him that I am skeptical, and that I will probably

2/

go back to Roman when I reprint them in a book… In the meantime,
I will have a chance to see what they look like. I don’t understand
what he is up to. The title gives you a turn. I don’t mean that.
I mean it takes you a while to figure out what it means, and the
italics will probably make it easier…The question is whether
you want it to be easy or not!

Copies. I would make sure that copies go to John Frederick
Nims at Poetry, as well as a copy to the magazine Poetry for
their reviewer…and to Peter Davidson at the Atlantic…one copy
will do, but it ought to be addressed to him personally.

I think that one ought to go to the Argus Champion and
another to the Concord Monitor, with notes drawing newspaper’s
attention to your Local Residence…

I think it is worthwhile to send one to Robert Taylor at
the Boston Globe, with a similar note… Probably nothing will
happen, but why not try?

Because I am a reviewer, you can get them to send me one –
and I will get an extra free copy!

Make sure that one is sent to Helen Vendler, although it
is doubtless not going to do anything. But you might as well
enter the lottery!

Definitely send one to Peter Stitt at Dept. of English/
University of Houston/Houston, TX…and get Missouri to say
that this is sent with the author’s compliments, at the suggestion
of Donald Hall. (If you don’t mind.) Peter will take notice.
He reviews every quarter in the Georgia Review… Otherwise…
they will doubtless send out to all the major review outlets
Who else? I cannot think in particular… If I think of more
I will tell you when you come over.

Love as ever, to both of you,

Don

[Click image to view]

Dear Don,

It turns out, because of a
foul-up, that I won’t be getting
books until Friday.

I will call ahead!

Love,

Wes

[Click image to view]

Dear Don,

Seeing you on Saturday should not have been a
surprise to me, given all your past support.
Still, I was surprised, and gratified you came.
It was splendid of you to think of doing so.

I sold, I think, 16 books. Then, taking my
books (along with the elderberry jam) to the
Saturday class at NHC, I sold 15 more.
(The students asked me to bring them.) There are
now books at Vernondale’s store–the
“demonstrater” open to p. 53, about the store,
among other things. And there are books at the
Concord stores–as well as the K. Bookshelf, of course.

About the job at U/MO: the time has now
passed for their arranging of interviews. Maybe
the job never got funded–there was some
question about that. Or maybe I got caught
in the struggle between the Press and the English
department. It’s not a serious struggle–but,
as I got it, there is some feeling among
department members that they should run the Devins

2/

contest and the Breakthrough series, now handled
by the Press and the poet/judge chosen for the
particular year.

Speaking of that reminds me to tell you not
to be surprised if someone contacts you about
being the next judge. They were quite interested
in you when I suggested your name (I hope
you don’t mind). The fee is $2500. I have
one last bit of lobbying to do in a follow-up
letter to Ed King about my story and other
things. So if you have any objections, please
let me know.

Hope all is well with you and Jane–
and that the recent cold snap has not
irritated Joey’s condition.

Love,

Wes

[Click image to view]

Dear Don,

Inspired by “a recent letter from Donald Hall,”
Robert Richman has sent me two sample issues
of The New Criterion and asked me to send him
poems to consider for publication. Once again, I
am grateful for your help. And, of course, I’m
excited.

Does Joey happen to have any of my poems on
hand? Or if he doesn’t, what should I write
about when?

I await your advice. In the meantime,
thank you.

Love,

Wes

[Click image to view]

Wes McNair
Hominy Pot Rd.
North Sutton, NH 03260

Dear Wes,

Good to hear from you. And it was lovely to see you at
Carlton’s. I do bore you worry about Carlton – he looks bad, and
he seems to be taking this move hard.

Jane has sold five poems in the last week! One to
Seneca, two to APR, and two to Poetry. What a lady to live
with! I did sell one to The New Yorker though. A longish
one.

Very good, selling sixteen books. That is better than
par. You are marketing them well! A+ in marketing! Too bad
about the job…but you have to try for two hundred in order
to get one… It is sort of like publishing a book!

I would be delighted to be contacted about being
an ex-judge at the Devins. $2500 is a lot or a little depending
upon how many manuscripts they want you to read. After judging
for the NEA last summer, I am not in the mood to read very many…
We will see.

I dictate this just before going out to Ann Arbor, and
will not mail it until I get back …in case this seems out of
date.

Love as ever,

Don