Some Southern Writers

SOME SOUTHERN WRITERS

WALKER PERCY

There amidst all the—

Twisted & gnarled old oak trees

I haunted The Quad

The Library and—

Allen Hall with its moody

English Department

Walker Percy whose—

The Moviegoer simply

Charmed me to no end

But his office hours—

Were dominated by his

Father’s suicide

JOHN HAZARD WILDMAN

We discussed Faulkner—

How tragic his writer’s life

In Mississippi

He was very much—

Like Noel Polk a Faulkner

Scholar and writer

Both imbued in me—

Deep South ambiguity

When it came to love

The whole campus there—

In Baton Rouge seemed very

Dixie decadent

NOEL POLK

Another writer—

From Mississippi thinking

Like Faulkner would think

I knew a kid once—

From Pascagoula like Polk

Fell in love with him

Maybe it was just—

The way he spoke his wordage

Thick as cane syrup

I had him read me—

Faulkner in bed in the dorm

After we made love