A Literary Legacy

John Hay
Bob was a distant cousin of John Hay, but he looked a lot like him. The bust is by Augustus St. Gaudens.

My friend Bob Hay passed away last year, and I learned only recently that he left me a box of notebooks full of his poetry. I guess that makes me his literary executor, which I consider a great honor. I believe I will put out a selection of his poems for his friends and family. I have only dipped my toe into this extensive collection, but here is a tantalizing sample. This poem from 1976 is entitled ‘Scholarship’, and there’s a note: “to Mr. B.D. Mangrum, may I always be a scholar’s debtor, and not a banker’s”

 

Scholarship

I’m sorry I don’t have time for Virgil, Homer,

Plotinus, Plautus, Herodotus, Seneca, + the

others, I do have feel for them. their

houses were modern at the time,

breasts untouchable,

eyelids flaky too…

And dust dust

Maybe I do