Poetry Mondays: I adore T.S. Eliot. When I get the time, I'll transcribe a series of letters between him and Groucho Marx. T.S. Eliot was a huge fan of Groucho's and first wrote him to request a portrait to hang on his wall. What transpired between them afterwards was a sweet kind of pen pal friendship.

Hysteria
T.S. Eliot

As she laughed I was aware of becoming involved
in her laughter and being part of it, until her
teeth were only accidental stars with a talent
for squad-drill. I was drawn in by short gasps,
inhaled at each momentary recovery, lost finally
in the dark caverns of her throat, bruised by
the ripple of unseen muscles. An elderly waiter
with trembling hands was hurriedly spreading
a pink and white checked cloth over the rusty
green iron table, saying: "If the lady and
gentlemen wish to take their tea in the garden,
if the lady and gentlemen wish to take their
tea in the garden. . ." I decided that if the
shaking of her breasts could be stopped, some of
the fragments of the afternoon might be collected,
and I concentrated my attention with careful
subtlety to this end.

*I italicize my favorite lines

Labels: poetry mondays