SWEENEY ERECT

SWEENEY ERECT

And the trees about meLet them be dry & leafless; let the rocksGroan with continual surges; & behind meMake all a desolation. Look, Look, wenches!Paintme a cavernous waste shoreCast in the unstilled Cyclades,Paint me the bold anfractuous rocksFaced by the snarled and yelping seas.Display me Æolus aboveReviewing the insurgent galesWhich tangle Ariadne’s hairAnd swell with haste the perjured sails.Morning stirs the feet and hands(Nausicaa and Polypheme);Gesture of orang-outangRises from the sheets in steam.This withered root of knots of hairSlitted below and gashed with eyes,This oval O cropped out with teeth;The sickle motion from the thighsJackknifes upward at the kneesThen straightens down from heel to hipPushing the framework of the bedAnd clawing at the pillow slip.Sweeney addressed full-length to shaveBroadbottomed, pink from nape to base,Knows the female temperamentAnd wipes the suds around his face.(The lengthened shadow of a manIs history, says Emerson,Who had not seen the silhouetteOf Sweeney straddled in the sun).Tests the razor on his legWaiting until the shriek subsides;The epileptic on the bedCurves backward, clutching at her sides.The ladies of the corridorFind themselves involved, disgraced;Call witness to their principlesDeprecate the lack of tasteObserving that hysteriaMight easily be misunderstood;Mrs. Turner intimatesIt does the house no sort of good.But Doris towelled from the bathEnters padding on broad feet,Bringing sal volatileAnd a glass of brandy neat.

And the trees about meLet them be dry & leafless; let the rocksGroan with continual surges; & behind meMake all a desolation. Look, Look, wenches!Paintme a cavernous waste shoreCast in the unstilled Cyclades,Paint me the bold anfractuous rocksFaced by the snarled and yelping seas.Display me Æolus aboveReviewing the insurgent galesWhich tangle Ariadne’s hairAnd swell with haste the perjured sails.Morning stirs the feet and hands(Nausicaa and Polypheme);Gesture of orang-outangRises from the sheets in steam.This withered root of knots of hairSlitted below and gashed with eyes,This oval O cropped out with teeth;The sickle motion from the thighsJackknifes upward at the kneesThen straightens down from heel to hipPushing the framework of the bedAnd clawing at the pillow slip.Sweeney addressed full-length to shaveBroadbottomed, pink from nape to base,Knows the female temperamentAnd wipes the suds around his face.(The lengthened shadow of a manIs history, says Emerson,Who had not seen the silhouetteOf Sweeney straddled in the sun).Tests the razor on his legWaiting until the shriek subsides;The epileptic on the bedCurves backward, clutching at her sides.The ladies of the corridorFind themselves involved, disgraced;Call witness to their principlesDeprecate the lack of tasteObserving that hysteriaMight easily be misunderstood;Mrs. Turner intimatesIt does the house no sort of good.But Doris towelled from the bathEnters padding on broad feet,Bringing sal volatileAnd a glass of brandy neat.

And the trees about meLet them be dry & leafless; let the rocksGroan with continual surges; & behind meMake all a desolation. Look, Look, wenches!

And the trees about me

Let them be dry & leafless; let the rocks

Groan with continual surges; & behind me

Make all a desolation. Look, Look, wenches!

Paintme a cavernous waste shoreCast in the unstilled Cyclades,Paint me the bold anfractuous rocksFaced by the snarled and yelping seas.

Paintme a cavernous waste shore

Cast in the unstilled Cyclades,

Paint me the bold anfractuous rocks

Faced by the snarled and yelping seas.

Display me Æolus aboveReviewing the insurgent galesWhich tangle Ariadne’s hairAnd swell with haste the perjured sails.

Display me Æolus above

Reviewing the insurgent gales

Which tangle Ariadne’s hair

And swell with haste the perjured sails.

Morning stirs the feet and hands(Nausicaa and Polypheme);Gesture of orang-outangRises from the sheets in steam.

Morning stirs the feet and hands

(Nausicaa and Polypheme);

Gesture of orang-outang

Rises from the sheets in steam.

This withered root of knots of hairSlitted below and gashed with eyes,This oval O cropped out with teeth;The sickle motion from the thighs

This withered root of knots of hair

Slitted below and gashed with eyes,

This oval O cropped out with teeth;

The sickle motion from the thighs

Jackknifes upward at the kneesThen straightens down from heel to hipPushing the framework of the bedAnd clawing at the pillow slip.

Jackknifes upward at the knees

Then straightens down from heel to hip

Pushing the framework of the bed

And clawing at the pillow slip.

Sweeney addressed full-length to shaveBroadbottomed, pink from nape to base,Knows the female temperamentAnd wipes the suds around his face.

Sweeney addressed full-length to shave

Broadbottomed, pink from nape to base,

Knows the female temperament

And wipes the suds around his face.

(The lengthened shadow of a manIs history, says Emerson,Who had not seen the silhouetteOf Sweeney straddled in the sun).

(The lengthened shadow of a man

Is history, says Emerson,

Who had not seen the silhouette

Of Sweeney straddled in the sun).

Tests the razor on his legWaiting until the shriek subsides;The epileptic on the bedCurves backward, clutching at her sides.

Tests the razor on his leg

Waiting until the shriek subsides;

The epileptic on the bed

Curves backward, clutching at her sides.

The ladies of the corridorFind themselves involved, disgraced;Call witness to their principlesDeprecate the lack of taste

The ladies of the corridor

Find themselves involved, disgraced;

Call witness to their principles

Deprecate the lack of taste

Observing that hysteriaMight easily be misunderstood;Mrs. Turner intimatesIt does the house no sort of good.

Observing that hysteria

Might easily be misunderstood;

Mrs. Turner intimates

It does the house no sort of good.

But Doris towelled from the bathEnters padding on broad feet,Bringing sal volatileAnd a glass of brandy neat.

But Doris towelled from the bath

Enters padding on broad feet,

Bringing sal volatile

And a glass of brandy neat.


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