"You know what? The bastard blows me out of the water. This guy writes Maine like Ardai writes New York. If you're not reading him, you don't know what you're missing." --Chris F. Holm, author of "The Collector" series, The Killing Kind, and Red Right Hand.

"A refreshingly new voice in noir." --Ed Kurtz, author of Nothing You Can Do and The Rib From Which I Remake the World.

"A glorious boilermaker of noir and East Coast gothic. The action is taut as a sprung snare and Bagley tightens the screws with every page." -- Laird Barron, author of Swift to Chase and Blood Standard.




Thursday, April 2, 2009

Deep Thoughts from Tough Guys: National Poetry Month Edition

Small wonder that the case remains unsolved,
Or that the sleuth, Le Roux, is now incurably insane,
And sits alone in a white room in a white gown,
Screaming that all the world is mad, that clues
Lead nowhere, or to walls so high their tops cannot be seen;
Screaming all day of war, screaming that nothing can be solved.

--excerpted from "Crime Club" by Weldon Kees (from The Collected Poems of Weldon Kees, edited by Donald Justice, ©1975 University of Nebraska Press).

7 comments:

Kieran Shea said...

bro, we need to hang.

it's like laying neat, little rows of bullets with you....

k

http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/07/04/050704crat_atlarge

Patrick Shawn Bagley said...

Hey, thanks for the article link. I knew a little about Kees' weird disappearance, but it was great to read more about it.

We'll hang out one of these days.

David Cranmer said...

I'm hooked after reading that passage. The last book of poetry I bought was BIRTHDAY LETTERS by Ted Hughes but I'm intrigued by Weldon Kees now.

Patrick Shawn Bagley said...

David, you should also take a look at the New Yorker to which Kieran linked above.

Patrick Shawn Bagley said...

That should have read "New Yorker article"...

Cullen Gallagher said...

Maine! (I'm from Orono, but currently living in Brooklyn, NY.) Can't wait to make it back there soon.

Thanks for the poem - really excellent. I had never heard of this writer before.

-Cullen
www.pulpserenade.blogspot.com

Paul D Brazill said...

Fantastic, that. A eye opener!