Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 77
POETRY
fr. gustave depreitere
recollects
William Bedford Clark
Note: On the fourteenth (some say the thirteenth) of January,
1903, a mysterious figure known as David E. George died of
self-induced strychnine (some say arsenic) poisoning in Room 4
(some say 3) of the Grand Avenue Hotel in Enid, Oklahoma
Territory. He had claimed to be John Wilkes Booth (some say
he was).
First Friday Mass dismissed, my blessing gone
With them into the brittle cold of dawn,
The ladies of my "remnant" snugged along
The stubbled field of maize toward Madison
And home. Old Mrs. Vater's City niece,
Her smile askew, had not received. The cup
And paten cleansed and set aside, I sent
The Jarboe twins, pale Ralph and burly Fred,
To breakfast quick on Mama's mush and cream
Before the tardy-bell's stern summoning.
Then Fred was back: "Please, Father Gus, you'd best
Come see this man. There's something wrong with him!"
His voice slipped out of pitch, betrayed real fear.
William Bedford Clark is a professor of English at Texas A&M
University. He has published widely in the field of American literature
and served as general editor of the Robert Penn Warren correspon-
dence project. His Blue Norther and Other Poems appeared in 2010,
and a new chapbook, Ways and Means, is due out soon.
77
Modern Age - Fall 2014
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Modern Age - Fall 2014
Table of Contents
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - Cover1
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - Cover2
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - Table of Contents
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 2
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 3
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 4
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 5
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 6
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 7
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 8
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 9
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 10
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 11
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 12
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 13
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 14
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 15
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 16
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 17
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 18
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 19
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 20
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 21
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 22
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 23
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 24
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 25
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 26
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 27
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 28
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 29
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 30
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 31
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 32
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 33
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 34
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 35
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 36
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 37
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 38
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 39
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 40
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 41
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 42
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 43
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 44
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 45
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 46
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 47
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 48
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 49
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 50
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 51
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 52
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 53
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 54
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 55
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 56
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 57
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 58
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 59
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 60
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 61
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 62
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 63
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 64
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 65
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 66
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 67
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 68
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 69
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 70
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 71
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 72
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 73
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 74
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 75
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 76
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 77
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 78
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 79
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 80
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 81
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 82
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 83
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 84
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 85
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 86
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 87
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 88
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 89
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 90
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 91
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 92
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 93
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 94
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 95
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - 96
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - Cover3
Modern Age - Fall 2014 - Cover4
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isi/modernage_2018winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isi/modernage_2017fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isi/modernage_2017summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isi/modernage_2017spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isi/modernage_2017winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isi/modernage_2016fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isi/modernage_2016summer
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isi/modernage_2016spring
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isi/modernage_2016winter
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isi/modernage_2015fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isi/modernage_2014fall
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/isi/modernage_2014summer
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com