Explore "Imaginary People" by Maxwell Bodenheim on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
I. POET
/ You have escaped the comedy / Of swift, pretentious praise and blame, / And smashed a tavern where they sell / The harlots' wine that men call fame. / Heralds of reckless solitude / Have offered you another voice, / But men are still a tempting jest. / You roam and cannot make a choice. / When you have played distractedly / With a humility, you tire / And change the pastime to a pride. / These are but moods of one desire. / You throw an imitating gleam / Upon the dwarfs that line your road, / Then with a worn hostility / You tramp along beneath your load.