Introducing Irony (Version 2)

<SPAN name="startofbook"></SPAN> <h1>INTRODUCING<br/> IRONY</h1> <p><span class="large">A BOOK OF POETIC SHORT<br/> STORIES AND POEMS</span></p> <p>BY<br/> <span class="large">MAXWELL BODENHEIM</span></p> <hr class="chap" /> <p class="center"> <span class="large"><i>To</i></span><br/> <span class="large">FEDYA RAMSAY</span><br/> WHOSE HAND NEVER LEAVES MY SHOULDER<br/></p> <hr class="chap" /> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</SPAN></span> <h2 class="nobreak">JACK ROSE</h2> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="verse"><div class="drop-cap">WITH crafty brooding life turned to Jack Rose</div> </div> <div class="verse">And made him heroin-peddler, and his pose</div> <div class="verse">Was sullenly reflective since he feared</div> <div class="verse">That life, regarding him, had merely jeered.</div> <div class="verse">His vanity was small and could not call</div> <div class="verse">His egoism to the dubious hall</div> <div class="verse">Of fame, where average artists spend their hour.</div> <div class="verse">Doubting his powers he was forced to cower</div> <div class="verse">Within the shrill, damp alleys of his time,</div> <div class="verse">Immersed in that brisk midnight known as crime.</div> <div class="verse">He shunned the fiercely shrewd stuff that he sold</div> <div class="verse">To other people, and derived a cold</div> <div class="verse">Enjoyment from the writhing of their hearts.</div> <div class="verse">A speechless artist, he admired the arts</div> <div class="verse">Of blundering destruction, like a monk</div> <div class="verse">Viewing a play that made him mildly drunk.</div> <div class="verse">And so malicious and ascetic Jack</div> <div class="verse">Bent to his trade with a relentless back</div> <div class="verse">Until he tapped an unexpected smile&mdash;</div> <div class="verse">A woman&#8217;s smile as smooth and hard as tile.</div> <div class="verse">May Bulger pawned her flesh to him and gave</div> <div class="verse">His heroin to her brother, with a grave</div> <div class="verse">Reluctance fumbling at her painted lips.</div> <div class="verse">Though angry at herself, she took the whips</div> <div class="verse">Of undesired love, to quiet a boy</div> <div class="verse">Who wept inanely for his favorite toy.</div> <div class="verse">She hated Jack because he failed to gloss</div> <div class="verse">And soften the rough surface of her loss,</div> <div class="verse">His matter-of-fact frown biting at her heart.</div> <div class="verse">He hated her because her smiling guess</div> <div class="verse">Had robbed him of ascetic loneliness,</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</SPAN></span> <div class="verse">And when her brother died, Jack sat beside</div> <div class="verse">Her grief and played a mouth-harp while she cried.</div> <div class="verse">But when she raised her head and smiled at him&mdash;</div> <div class="verse">A smile intensely stripped and subtly grim&mdash;</div> <div class="verse">His hate felt overawed and in a trap,</div> <div class="verse">And suddenly his head fell to her lap.</div> <div class="verse">For some time she sat stiffly in the chair,</div> <div class="verse">Then slowly raised her hand and stroked his hair.</div> </div></div> <hr class="chap" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />