Olson, Lawrence

English

University of New Mexico

New Mexico Quarterly
Volume 8 | Issue 4 Article 7
1938
Mr. Pilson Entertains Privately
Lawrence Olson
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Recommended Citation
Olson, Lawrence. "Mr. Pilson Entertains Privately." New Mexico Quarterly 8, 4 (1938). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/nmq/vol8/
iss4/7
,
•.1
The Old Man Who Walks With a Cane
By LAWRENCE OLSON
My grandmother told m,e
God walks the stair at midnight,
~ Dragging no chains.
She was there in the room
All night with little feet,
Running in silence over dreams;
Every night she told me
God walks the stair, dragging no chains.
But I saw hot crowd faces and I thought:
God missed a step and stumbled
Down where'light dripped in the cold hall.
My grandmother told me
In the interminable afternoons.
Mr. Pilson Entertains Privately
By LAWRENCE OLSON
Tschaikowsky in a bare room,
Around bare tables..
The taste of relighted cigarettes
That glow on the floor
.Like eyes.
Water runs through a broken tap,
Dripping on stars, brightly burning;
While Giotto cracks, and smoke
Licks out under the heavy door.
Strain for a hidden voice
Three pages past, unutterably,
Like frightened pigeons
On a leaky roof.
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Olson: Mr. Pilson Entertains Privately
Published by UNM Digital Repository, 1938


Mr. Pilson Entertains Privately

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Mr. Pilson Entertains Privately

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