INTRODUCING IRONY

INTRODUCING IRONY

A BOOK OF POETIC SHORT STORIES AND POEMS

BY MAXWELL BODENHEIM

NEW YORK BONI AND LIVERIGHT 1922

Copyright, 1922, by Boni & Liveright, Inc. Printed in the United States of America

To FEDYA RAMSAY WHOSE HAND NEVER LEAVES MY SHOULDER

Some of the poems and stories in this book have appeared in The Dial, Harper’s Bazaar, The Little Review, The Nation, Cartoons Magazine, Poetry, A Magazine of Verse, The New York Globe, The Bookman, Vanity Fair, The Measure and The Double Dealer

SEAWEED FROM MARS

I

II

III

IV

V

NOVEL CONVERSATION

CERTAIN favorite words of men have gathered in a vale made of sound-waves. These words, far removed from human tongues and impositions, enjoy an hour of freedom.

THE SCRUB-WOMAN

(A Sentimental Poem)

II

MEDITATIONS IN A CEMETERY

You can write nothing new about death GEROID LATOUR

CANDID NARRATIVE

I

A chorus-girl falls asleep and, in a dream, speaks to a former lover. In her dream she holds the intelligence of a poet but still clings to certain of the qualities and mannerisms of her wakeful self.

II

UNLITERARY AND SHAMELESS

A young woman who has been renounced by her lover, because of her lack of culture, answers his derision.

TWO SONNETS TO MY WIFE

I

II

FINALITIES

I

II

III

[43]

IV

V

VI

[45]

VII

VIII

IMAGINARY PEOPLE

I POET

II WOMAN

III CHILD

[49]

IV OLD MAN