MAX JACOBTartufe, 1919; Le Laboratoire central, 1921; Visions infernales, 1924; Les Penitents en
maillots roses, 1925; Fond de peau, 1927; Sacrifice impérial, 1929; Rivage, 1931;
Conseils à un jeune poète, 1945; Le Cornet à dés II, 1955; L’Homme de cristal, 1967.
The Rue Ravignan
‘‘One does not bathe twice in the same stream,’’ said the philosopher Her-
aclitus. Yet it is always the same ones who mount the street! Always at the same
time of day they pass by, happy or sad. All of you, passers-by of the Rue Ravignan,
I have named you after the illustrious dead. There is Agamemnon! There is
Madame Hanska! Ulysses is a milkman! When Patroclus appears at the end of the
street a Pharaoh is beside me! Castor and Pollux are the ladies of the fifth floor.
But thou, old ragpicker, who come in the enchanted morning to take away the
still living rubbish as I am putting out my good big lamp, thou whom I know not,
mysterious and impoverished ragpicker, I have given thee a celebrated and noble
name, I have named thee Dostoievsky.
—john ashbery
The Revelation
I came back from the National Library; I put down my briefcase; I hunted
around for my slippers and when I looked up, there was someone on the wall;
there was someone there! There was someone on the red wallpaper. My flesh fell
away! I was stripped naked by a lightning-bolt! Imperishable moment! Truth, oh,
truth! Truth with its tears and its joy! Never-to-be-forgotten truth! The Divine
Body is on the wall of a shabby room. Why, Lord? Forgive me! He’s in a land-
scape, a landscape I drew a long time ago, but how beautiful He is! How graceful
and gentle! The way He bears himself, the way He walks! He wears a yellow silk
robe and blue facings. He turns around and I can see that peaceful, radiant
countenance. Six monks now come into the room carrying a dead body. Near me
is a woman with snakes around her arms and hair.
the angel: Innocent fool! You have seen God! You do not realize how
fortunate you are.
me: Let me weep; oh, let me weep! I am just a poor human creature.
the angel: The Evil Spirit has gone. He will be back.
me: The Evil Spirit! Yes, I see!
the angel: Understanding.