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In My Memory Eddie
American Poetry Review, The, Sep/Oct 2005 by Rector, Liam
Great-Uncle Eddie
Came to see us in the country.
Eddie looked exactly
Like Fred Astaire, floating
Fred Astaire (and Eddie
For some reason had on
A tuxedo, top hat, and spats).
I loved Eddie.
At eight I was already
Gone to the movies.
And Eddie looked exactly
Like a world just beyond,
Like a well-lit city just over
The hill. (I could not imagine
How Eddie came out of anything
Resembling our family.)
Eventually
Eddie hanged himself: just kicked out
The stool beneath him and, after
What I imagine was a brief struggle
On a lonely day for Eddie, Eddie
Was gone. And when I asked
My grandmother what would make Eddie
Do such a thing, she, in a moment
Of uncharacteristic candor,
Said Eddie simply could not stand
Getting older. I did not know it
At the time, but Eddie
Had already transported me
(Much as Astaire transported,
Much as startling art transports)
Towards the city, no matter
How much I loved the country.
(My grandmother said before I left
She could understand how I felt
About Eddie, and she apologized
For allowing me to so often sit up late with her
And experience
What she suddenly called
"Too many movies.")
And now that I live
In New York City,
Where nights
Of top hats, champagne,
And limousines actually are
Part of life, I, when really dressed,
Always raise a glass to Eddie.
I raise a glass to Eddie and to a time
When men believed so deeply
In style (or at least in
Their clothes) (or at least in the movies)
That when those men died (at least
When they chose to exercise
The option of ending themselves
By hanging)
They had the decency,
Before they kicked out their stools
(And I have documentation
To support this),
They had the damned decency
To make sure
They died with their hats on.
And these days I find
My greatest transport (outside
The movies, where I still live)
By remembering such days
As when Eddie
Came to visit us
In the country.
Copyright World Poetry, Incorporated Sep/Oct 2005
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved
