Hayden Carruth: The Afterlife: Letter to Stephen Dobyns II

American Poetry Review, The, May/Jun 1999 by Carruth, Hayden

You live in a sinking nation, Stephen, in a stinking

Time. America is falling apart. We look down in

Astonishment, but mostly in dismay. The other day

When I met Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madison

On the plaza they turned their backs on me. I

Understood them. I'm a recent arrival, tainted

With degeneracy, no matter what my personal

State of innocence or guilt. Alas, they say

They can tell it in my speech. They say the spectacle

Of presidents and professors impeached on charges

Of trivial misconduct for patently greedy

And partisan ends is more than they can stand.

Who would have thought America could become

A nation where the putsch, the coup, the revolution

Of the swine could prevail against the common

Will. Stephen, we conclude the common will

Isn't strong enough, not any more, the corruption

Has reached so deep and spread so far. You

Must learn again to live in the common shame,

As in the days of slavery and the massacres of the

Natives. You must learn to live again in

Dreadful isolation, a castaway. Oh Stephen,

For the first time I'm actually glad I've escaped,

Even to the nullity of the afterlife, even in spite

Of all the beauty and comradeship I've lost.