Letters Between Poets

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Wesley McNair
Hominy Pot Rd.
North Sutton, NH 03260

Dear Wes,

I am wearing my Poultry shirt, as I sit in the privacy of my down-
stairs study dictating on a winter morning. I love it. So does Jane.
I knew what it came from, the Poultry…

What a year you have had. We have had more or less a lousy one –
except for Philippa’s happy marriage, and of course the wedding was some-
thing else. Christmas has been just too much. John Wain and Brenda have
been here for eight days from England. Andrew was here four days. Jane’s
mother a week, and Philippa and Jerry a couple… Today the last Wain
goes back to England, but Joyce and Jeff arrive to take the cottage over…
We will stay in bed for two days when they leave, then go down and see my
mother… Then I go to New York for a week… Then I go to Ann Arbor for
one day for a reading… and then…I think in February I may be able
to look at a piece of paper again.

I like this new poem very much but something troubles me about the
ending. I do know one thing. You give away the last line in the title
and that is something you should never do. When we come to the last line
it is no surprise. We were waiting for it all along. It is a wonderful
title – but it spoils the last line.

Then I have trouble coming to the last line – I do believe – by itself…
I wonder if it should be “or the Town of No…” I wonder if “or” is right.
I wonder if there might be a line-break between “don’t/Blink…”? I know
that something frays apart at the end.. It isn’t quite solid I think.
And I think that my complaints will be solved by something as small as
one syllable. And for that matter maybe I’m nuts.

Don

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Wes McNair
Box 43
North Sutton, NH

Dear Wes,

What a lovely thing! It hangs on the hangers behind the
stove in the livingroom, but eventually my excessive modesty
will cause me to remove it to a more private place…unless
my excessive modesty of course allows me to wear it in public.
I love it. So does Jane. And all our visitors have been looking
at it and loving it and laughing. Thank you so much! You are
a dear, and you please me no end. Thank you!

Love to you and Diane, as ever,

Don

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Wes McNair
Hominy Pot Rd.
North Sutton, NH 03260

Dear Wes,

You will get worse than this! Cheer up. This is condescending
but it is not murderous. I hate this stupid little review…but
cheer up, it will get much worse. You will be reviewed by people
who want you to die very slowly, in public, while thousands of people
laugh… It is a wonderful feeling, this hatred and loathing from
strangers.

So why did we go into this racket anyway? I cannot always tell
you. No, I have no idea who reviews there.

Did the University of Missouri send it to you? They shouldn’t
do it. But they almost always will. And if they don’t, there is
always some “friend” somewhere who will do It for you. Cheer up!
The worst is yet to come… When you get more famous. Something to
look forward to!

Jane said you did a marvelous reading. I look forward very much
to seeing you at the Gray House, six o’clock on the 3rd…

Best as ever,

Don

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Wes McNair

Dear Wes,

Dick Smart is a terrific guy – and so is Nan.
[Written in margin:] not guy
I look forward to the dinner – but I need to know
where to go. Where is the dinner? Good that Carl and
Eleanor will be there.

Now I see Diane all the time, as I pop around for
airline tickets. That’s good. But lately I spend a total
of about fifteen seconds in the office…

Will anything ever slow down? Things are a bit
knotty just now.

That would be good, if Jane could read at Colby-Sawyer
nest [sic] time.

See you soon. I’m delighted to read again at old
CS at of which I am now an alumnus, heaven knows. Best as ever,

Don

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Wes McNair
Hominy Pot Rd.
North Sutton, NH 03260

Dear Wes,

If anybody had carried a tape recorder, and if they could strap
you into a chair long enough for you to listen to it, you would discover
that you spoke with an absolutely gorgeous eloquence, out of all your
terror. I realize you have absolutely no recollection of what you said!
It was absolutely dear and I appreciated it tremendously. It was also
sheer eloquence. Terror does wonderful things. Anyway, I value what
you said – and not nearly so much as I value you. And your work.

Wasn’t that a wonderful woman who had just lost
four hundred and twenty-two pounds?

We had a wonderful time in Italy. You mailed your card about
sending publicity-stuff to Pat on the day we flew away. Therefore it
goes out today.

In your letter of October 24th, you speak about the dinner before
my reading. You want to ask somebody to it – and I think you mean Dick
Smart, right? His wife is my Aunt Nan, my mother’s sister. Dick and Nan
Smart/ Tilton/ New Hampshire. If I have misunderstood, just forgive me.
I am out of my mind with fatigue right now.

While you are reading at Dartmouth I am reading in St. Petersburg,
Florida. Exact hour. Jane wants to come. I hope that she can…

I will be here this week, not leaving until the next week Tuesday…
in case I have made some stupid mistakes in my fatigue here…

Love as ever,

Don