THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING ERNEST HEMINGWAY
For Michael Palin
Because I wanted him whole, from the start,
not just the brash young man taking advantage of war and a newspaper to see the world,
not just the young man
looking back in anger, not just the famous novelist
Trolling the gulf for Kraut subs; the whole, you see,
is greater than the sum of his parts. I'd had it with the scrap collectors
years ago. They always left a hole.
When I found the part I was looking for
(I actually missed it the first time)
it didn't seem to fit; so I kept the old image
of the writer in his room staring at the typewriter until he couldn't stand it any longer and then BLAM!
That was that. After all, writers' block had taken many from the fold.
But if I'd looked closer I'd have seen that my piece didn't fit,
that the edges had been trimmed, that one corner was tucked under,
that one edge was clearly torn from a magazine. I needed to know
that he felt like he was losing his mind, I needed to know
Ketcham was becoming more of an asylum, the house becoming
his Castle Keep, for real this time. I needed to know they took him to Chicago
for shock therapy.
I'm with him now. I think his hands shook.
I think his eyes were wide & slightly dreamy.
I think he thought, at the last minute,
Well, I guess I could make this look like an accident, and then thought
Oh, the Hell with it. Get it over with.
I think with that he escaped. Finally, definitely,
and, actually, gracefully. Gone the weight problem; gone
the accidents; gone
the goddamned shock therapy. Gone the Castle Keep in Ketcham.
Gone our great and lovely Ernest.
See you on the other side.