Draft, TRACKS, FOR A BOURGEOIS WOMAN 1

Resource added
Fair copy of a poem written in Paris 1-14 March 1985; changed 18 March 10:45 p.m.—2:00 a.m., 19 March 8:45a.m.—9:13; 12:30 p.m.—1:13. [CROSS-COUNTRY] TRACKS, FOR A [MIDDLE-CLASS GIRL] BOURGEOUIS WOMAN by J. A. Emanuel High in [Austrian] alpine snow, [her awkward] cross-country skis at awkward rest to imitate the guide [*on a line by itself*] she looked back suddenly, [felt surprisingly] surprised to feel the downward mountain pulsing in h er eyes: “a mystical experience,” Wordsworth himself had said, [the] this blank-ribbed surface of her past, placeless as sky whirled upside down-- only clouds to slow her feet [again], no gripping path except the rutted trail behind them its whiteness rearranged by bluer air. A trance-like [quiet] quiet palmed away her friend’s bright [phrase] talk [left] from space the guide’s new voice [fit perfectly] spreads through like quick-dry brush brushstrokes [finishing] re-coloring the portrait she had sat for all her life: “Perhaps you’d like,” he said, “to make tracks of your own.” The sunshine-frame of it [beamed out a splendor] braced the instant [for the instant] needed by her waking skis to plunge, her willing body following, her [waking] shining senses leaping downhill[,] to clinch[ing] the risk, the dare, exhilaration blinded to the rock that rose and jerked her headlong underneath the snow-- a [quiet] trap-door disappearance, a [soft] swallowing. Panic pushed her friend--the guide already there-- to the nothingness above her, anxiety a shrilling vapor until a rosy-tasseled cap,

Full description

Draft Poem written by Emanuel in 1985 with typed and written edits, describing Marie France skiing ambitiously (making her own tracks) and falling deep in the Alpine snow. Marie-France is a close friend of the author.

  • type
    Image
  • created on
  • file format
    jpg
  • file size
    738 KB
  • creator
    James A. Emanuel
  • rights
    James A. Emanuel Estate
  • rights holder
    James A. Emanuel Estate