TRACKS, FOR A BOURGEOIS WOMAN

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TRACKS, FOR A BOURGEOIS WOMAN by J. A. Emanuel In Alpine snow, cross—country skis uneasily at rest to imitate the guide, she looked back suddenly, surprised to feel the downward mountain pulsing in her eyes: "a mystical experience" (Wordsworth himself had said), this blank—ribbed spectre widening into her past foundationless as sky whirled upside down-- only clouds to slow her feet, no gripping path except the dimly rutted trail behind them, its whiteness rearranged by bluer air. A trance-like quiet palmed away her friend's bright talk from filmy space the guide's new voice spread through like quick-dry brushstrokes re-coloring the portrait she had sat for her life: "Perhaps you'd like," he said, "to make tracks of your own." The sunshine-frame of it braced the instant taken by her waking skis to plunge, her willing body following, her shining senses leaping downhill to clinch the chance, the dare, exhilaration blinded to the rock that rose and jerked her headlong underneath the snow-- a trap-door disappearance, a swallowing. Panic pushed her friend-- guide already there-- to the nothingness above her, anxiety a shrilling vapor until a rosy—tasseled cap, wrenched over dripping eyes and soggy grin, poked through the gleaming snow. In three seconds she had tracked a blue peak far beyond the friendly tugs and well—tried arm that brushed and straightened her. She stood up--rearranged around her changeless core-- whisking off her mind a diamond phrase, unsaid, about the hole she'd made, twice her size in drawing rooms-- and deeper.

Full description

Draft Poem written by Emanuel in 1985 with typed and written edits, describing a woman skiing ambitiously (making her own tracks) and falling deep in the Alpine snow.

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  • type
    Image
  • created on
  • file format
    jpg
  • file size
    440 kB
  • container title
    James A. Emanuel Papers
  • creator
    James A. Emanuel
  • issue
    BOX 5 FOLDER 5, Deadly James, draft A, 1981-1990 (2 of 2)
  • rights
    James A. Emanuel Estate
  • rights holder
    James A. Emanuel Estate
  • version
    1985, nd