The Wild Party by Joseph Moncure March, illustrated by Art SpiegelmanThis dirty little poem about vaudeville types and their low-life friends boozing it up and falling into bed indiscriminately was banned in Boston after its initial publication in 1928, then faded into semi-obscurity. Art Spiegelman's delightfully saucy and wicked illustrations steal the show, but even on its own, the verse crackles with a glorious depravity:
"The party was getting under way
Stiffly, slowly.
The way they drank was unholy.
They hovered around the glass-filled tray
Ravenously,
Like birds of prey.
White, intense;
With mask-like faces
Frozen in rigid, gay grimaces.
They chattered and laughed
Stony-eyed:
Impatient:
Hasty:
Preoccupied.
They drank swiftly, as though they might
Drop dead before they were properly tight."
If you like...: the works of Edward Gorey, this book is for you.
1 comment:
My favorite bit, at the start of the second section:
"Studio;
Bedroom;
Bath;
Kitchenette:
Furnished like a third act passion set"
I think when the author died he was reincarnated as Tom Waits.
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