call me

 

another poem by Marianne Moore:

Talisman

Under a splintered mast,

torn from ship and cast

       near her hull,

a stumbling shepherd found

embedded in the ground,

       a sea-gull

of lapis lazuli,

a scarab of the sea,

       with wings spread--

curling its coral feet,

parting its beak to greet

       men long dead.

________________________________

     One of my literature classes at Boston University was taught by a professor who was a Marianne Moore scholar.  She wrote a whole book about Moore and her poetry, and I typed it.

     I invested in an IBM Selectric III typewriter, had it on a typing table in my Brookline apartment.  In my "typing business" I typed several books written by professors, and papers written by students, etc.  Charging by the page.

     To get business, I made signs (on 8 1/2 x 11 paper), with my phone number, and put them up on bulletin boards in the English and History departments.   I received a few obscene phone calls after putting up those signs; but most of the calls were legitimate people wanting me to type something.

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