{"id":1423,"date":"2012-02-22T17:23:31","date_gmt":"2012-02-22T21:23:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/?p=1423"},"modified":"2013-12-18T20:28:24","modified_gmt":"2013-12-19T00:28:24","slug":"mcnair-to-hall-september-25-1979","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/mcnair-to-hall-september-25-1979\/","title":{"rendered":"McNair to Hall: September 25, 1979"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\"McNair-to-Hall-09-25-1979\"<\/a>\"McNair-to-Hall-09-25-1979\"<\/a>\"McNair-to-Hall-09-25-1979\"<\/a>\"McNair-to-Hall-09-25-1979\"<\/a>\"McNair-to-Hall-09-25-1979\"<\/a><\/p>\n

[Click image to view]<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

September 25, 1979<\/p>\n

Dear Don,<\/p>\n

I was very pleased to learn that you like \u201cHair on Television\u201d.
\nThat damn poem took me an eternity to finish\u2026that is, to almost<\/span>
\nfinish. You were right to suggest the longer lines in the beginning
\nof the poem, and the shorter line in the fourth stanza from the end.
\nI send you the I think finished product.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m also enclosing the slightly revised version of \u201cThe Thin
\nMan\u201d. At first I was reluctant to change \u201cyearning\u201d. I of course knew
\nthat the word is often used in the rhymes of popular songs, etc. — that
\nit is a \u201ccorny\u201d word–but I thought, or sensed, that its very corniness
\nlent a kind of comedy to the thin man\u2019s predicament\u2026rather like
\nthe comedy–the grim humor–that the shopworn word \u201cdoomed\u201d provides
\nin my poem \u201cThe Bald Spot\u201d (It peers\/ out from hair\/ like the face\/
\nof a doomed man\u2026). but I am convinced now that my judgement [sic] was
\nfaulty. The word doesn\u2019t read as I had wanted it to, and besides, along-
\nside \u201clonely\u201d, it suggests that the thin man\u2019s problem is romantic,
\nand it shouldn\u2019t. The replacement word \u201cearnest\u201d connotes a consciousness
\nthat is serious and unaware of irony–the appropriate consciousness
\nfor the thin man, I think. The \u201clonely\u201d, accenting the seriousness
\nof the thin man, and perhaps the seriousness with which he takes
\nhimself, helps achieve the sort of comedy I want.\u00a0And I
\nlike that \u201cearnest\u201d reminds me of accounts of idealistic young men
\njust beginning their lives (esp. as used with \u201clonely\u201d), since I want
\nthe thin man to \u201cage\u201d in the course of the poem.<\/p>\n

Tomorrow I\u2019ll have decided to scratch the line and start again.
\nBut today I\u2019m sure of it, and of the above reasons for it.<\/p>\n

You mentioned a batch of four poems for Joey. How well you
\nkeep track of these things! I am still stuck on \u201cDriving Poem\u201d–how to
\nwrite is as a complete sentence. I simply cannot find a satisfactory
\nalternative to what I have now, though I think you are right that what
\nI have should be revised. I\u2019m still thinking about \u201cOld Trees\u201d, too,
\nand an alternative for the \u201cgrowing o\u2019s\u201d of that poem is even harder
\nto find, perhaps because I wrote the whole poem around that image,
\nof which I was so sure\u2026I am not worried about \u201cDP\u201d, only about
\n\u201cOld Trees\u201d, which I very much wanted to use in my revised book–
\nwhich I would very much like to type<\/span> and ship out. And so I hope
\nfor a solution soon.<\/p>\n

Please let me know you responses to the enclosed. I am
\nglad you have liked these things, and even gladder that you have
\nmanaged to write to me about them so quickly after you
\nreceived them. Thanks for everything<\/span>,
\nWes<\/p>\n

P.S. – I have decided to send the revised manuscript to : Harper & Row,
\nHoughton Mifflin (if they approve of a \u201csampler\u201d of my poems which
\nI submitted earlier), Wesleyan and The Walt Whitman Award contest.
\nI am also beginning to think that since \u201cHair on Television\u201d,
\n\u201cThe Thin Man\u201d and \u201cThe Bald Spot\u201d – all of which contain
\nhumor and have a ^more or less \u201cpop\u201d feel – will introduce the revised
\nbook (along with \u201cfor my Father\u201d), the two porno<\/span>\/pop
\npoems, feel more appropriate now. So I may include them after all!
\nAs I see it now, there are many poems which are like<\/span>
\n\u201cThe Little Lonely Comic [?]\u201d and \u201cThe Characters of Forgotten Dirty Jokes\u201d,
\neven though they (the other poems) are not dirty. There are the
\nthree I\u2019ve mentioned, especially \u201cHair on Television,\u201d and there
\nare others, such as, \u201cThe Thugs of Old Comics,\u201d \u201cThe
\nPoetic License,\u201d \u201cRufus Porter by Himself\u201d and \u201cThinking
\nabout Carrevale\u2019s Wife.\u201d<\/p>\n

HAIR ON TELEVISION<\/p>\n

On the soap opera the doctor
\nexplains to the young woman with cancer
\nthat each day is beautiful.<\/p>\n

Hair lifts from their heads
\nlike clouds, like something to eat.<\/p>\n

It is the hair of the married couple
\ngetting in touch with their real feelings for the first time
\non the talk show,<\/p>\n

the hair of young people on the beach
\ndrinking Cokes and falling in love.<\/p>\n

And the man who took laxative and waters his garden
\nnext day with the hose wears the hair<\/p>\n

so dark and wavy even his grandchildren are amazed
\nand the woman who never dreamed tampons
\ncould be so convenient wears it.<\/p>\n

For the hair is changing people\u2019s lives.
\nIt is growing like wheat above the faces<\/p>\n

of game show contestants opening the doors
\nof new convertibles, of prominent businessmen opening
\ntheir hearts to Christ, and it is growing<\/p>\n

straight back from the foreheads of vitamin experts,
\ndetergent and dog food experts helping ordinary housewives discover<\/p>\n

how to be healthier, get clothes cleaner and serve
\ndogs meals they love in the hair.<\/p>\n

And over and over on television the housewives,
\nand the news teams bringing all the news faster
\nand faster, and the new breed of cops winning the fight
\nagainst crime, are smiling, pleased to be at their best,<\/p>\n

proud to be among the literally millions of Americans everywhere
\nwho have tried the hair, compared the hair and will never go back
\nto life before the active, the caring, the successful, the incredible hair.<\/p>\n

THE THIN MAN<\/p>\n

Once in a mirror
\nas it folded hair
\nback from its face<\/p>\n

he discovered his eyes
\nearnest, lonely.
\nThis was the beginning<\/p>\n

of his life
\ninside the body,
\nof standing deep in the legs<\/p>\n

of it,
\nheld
\nin its elbowless arms.<\/p>\n

And when it walked
\nhe walked,
\nand when it slept<\/p>\n

he dreamed of drowning
\nunder its lakes
\nof skin.<\/p>\n

Oh the thin man
\ntrying to get out
\nlearned of its great<\/p>\n

locked breasts,
\nits seamless chin,
\nthe dead ends<\/p>\n

of its hands.
\nAnd oh the heavy body
\ntook him<\/p>\n

to tables
\nof food,
\nand took him down<\/p>\n

into the groaning
\ncarnal bed.
\nThe pitiless body took him<\/p>\n

to a mirror
\nwhich showed
\nthe eyes<\/p>\n

in a face
\nimmense and dying,
\nwho he was.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\n

A note from McNair about this letter:<\/em><\/strong><\/span> The letter moves from typescript to longhand because everyone in the house is in bed and I didn\u2019t want to wake them with my noisy electric typewriter….\u00a0The two poems I tell Don I’m \u201cstuck\u201d on, namely \u201cOld Trees\u201d and Driving Poem,\u201d I don’t complete until months later, the first on February 23, 1980<\/span><\/a><\/span>, the second, re-conceived as \u201cTrees That Pass Us in Our Cars,\u201d on November 12, 1980<\/span><\/a><\/span>. The published versions of these poems are available below, together with other poems I mention in this letter.<\/p>\n

Read\u00a0Old Trees<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>(published version)<\/span><\/p>\n

Read\u00a0Trees That Pass Us in Our Cars<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/strong>(published version)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Read<\/span> The Bald Spot<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>(published version)<\/span><\/p>\n

Read<\/span> Hearing that My Father Died in a Supermarket<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>(published version)<\/span><\/p>\n

Read<\/span> The Thugs of Old Comics<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>(published version)<\/span><\/p>\n

Read<\/span> The Poetic License<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>(published version)<\/span><\/p>\n

Read<\/span> Rufus Porter by Himself<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>(published version)<\/span><\/p>\n

Read<\/span> Thinking About Carnevale\u2019s Wife<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>(published version)<\/span><\/p>\n\n

\n <\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Click image to view] September 25, 1979 Dear Don, I was very pleased to learn that you like \u201cHair on Television\u201d. That damn poem took me an eternity to finish\u2026that is, to almost finish. You were right to suggest the longer lines in the beginning of the poem, and the shorter line in the fourth […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2341,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[803,35504,42971,42963,293],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1423"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2341"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1423"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1423\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11277,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1423\/revisions\/11277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}