"Thou canst read nothing except through appetite"

Reading log 3/2011

Not new, but just because I never realized this was published after Crane's death and its title, "Reply," was given to it by his literary executor, Samuel Loverman, also a gay man.

REPLY

Thou canst read nothing except through appetite

And here we join eyes in that sanctity

Where brother passes brother without sight,

But finally knows conviviality…

Go then, unto thy turning and thy blame.

Seek bliss, then, brother, in my moment's shame.

All this that balks delivery through words

Shall come to you through wounds prescribed by swords:

That hate is but the vengeance of a long caress,

And fame is pivotal to shame with every sun

That rises on eternity's long willingness…

So sleep, dear brother, in my fame, my shame undone.

"What seems truly appalling [to those who are homophobic], and what Crane remind is in 'Reply,' is the possibility that homosexuality might lay claim to earthly bliss without agreeing to suffer for it." — Christopher Nealon, Foundlings: lesbian and gay historical emotion before Stonewall