On "A Short Introduction to the Word"
Holograph version
[Different versions of this poem exist. This is the original, which Crosby offered to Transition as a filler for a 2-page portion of the magazine set aside for his work. Editor Eugene Jolas took portions which he rearranged in a shorter sequence.]
Reproduced with the Permission of Special Collections, Morris Library, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
[the following transcriptions occur on a page-by-page basis]
Hunt-the-Slipper. A flower called Lady-Slipper. Running in the Gold Cup a horse called Slipper. Drinking champagne out of her Red Slipper. From these magic sources the development of the word Slipper in my mind so that it becomes the word internal and therefore as such a part of me as my eyes or feet.
Puma, Firedine, Sunelope, Yes, Ráhda, Rãese.
Incircumscriptibleness, Anitdisestablishmentarianisms.
which burns permanently in my brain. It has accuracy and alacrity. It is monomaniac in its intensity. It is a continual flash of insight, It is the |
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| marriage of invulnerability with Yes of the Red Wolf, with the Gold Bumblee of Madness with Rã.
Fingertoes, Auroramor, Barabarific, Parabolaw, Peaglecock, Lovegown, Nombrilomane.
words to be single and by themselves and deriving from no other words as for instance the word I.
Prizefighter and Princess, Aviator and Nun.
be avoided altogether.
promise of words such as the words in her eyes. |
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Locomotive, Firecracker, Tornado, Galloper Light, Trajectory, The Meteor, Fleetness, Velocity.
kiss-pretties = go to hell, jumping = jumping into bed with someone hence the expression ‘she’s a jumper,’ what’s the crêpe = how are you, to put on a storm = to stage a wild party, harra or harra burra = a cry of enthusiasm, brunch = a combination of breakfast and lunch, m. o. = mutual orgasm, 34 ½ = ½ of 69, d.b. = dumb blonde.
physical changes in the brain result in a given word—this word having the distinguished characteristics of unreality being born neither as a result of connotation nor of conscious endeavor Starlash |
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in the mind requires despotic power and unlimited elimination. How would Yes for instance flourish among words such as dog or corset or safety-pin or hot-water-bag or eunuch
merely an image but a directive force which guides the flight of the soul
constant repetition of certain words is as necessary as eating or as taking exercise
January Fire February Barbaric and Catapult March The Arrow April Amor and Ra June Invulnerability July Meteoric Madness Velocity Sorcerers August I Yes September Slipper New Moon |
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word as for instance with me the word Sorceress where the word goes on even while the attention is focused on entirely different subjects just as in swimming my arms and legs go on automatically even when my attention is focused on subjects entirely different from swimming such as witchcraft for instance or the sorceress
the word is too often ignored—any word that will serve for any other use is seldom satisfactory.
Time in regard to the word should be qualitative rather than quantitative.
The significance of the word must differ from that of daily life. This is important. |
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according to the dictionary is a drug provocative of sexual desire. But for me it is the name of a yacht and white as her great white sails and has nothing whatever to do with sexual desire.
the word.
hareem of houris for the brain of man a hareem of words.
Sweet To Touch words written in red lettering on a card pinned to a bathing suit worn by a wooden mannequin in a shop window at Deauville.
meat for brave men because they at the same time transfer its courage to themselves. So is the word |
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| fit meat for brave minds because they at the same time transfer its courage to themselves. Take the words Conqueror Meteoric Attack Magnificent.
trailing a long white banderole on which is written in huge letters the words Dry Gin.
words as well as living words contain stores of magical force Stone or Star.
is to be sought in one’s own mind.
A word should be absolute in its application Phallic Thrust Propellor
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Delivering the Word
[Crosby’s diary records an exciting anecdote about delivering this typescript to the printer. If the entry is credible, it registers several points: that the contents of Transition were sometimes assembled at the last minute and that Crosby had, through an arrangement with the editor Eugene Jolas, a certain number of pages set aside for his work, and most interesting of all, that Crosby felt that he could "never write anything on the spur of the moment unless it was a love-letter." To him, the poem emerges from the meditation on the word "slipper" – a passage that was downgraded from its opening position when slimmed down for publishing in Transition.]
[October] 17 … There are two blank pages left open for me but I can never write anything on the spur of the moment unless it is a love-letter and we can’t seem to find my Short Introduction to the Word We telephone to Colombey to have it dictated over the telephone but we are cut off in the middle of it. A good meal in a little restaurant Jolas ordered it. Many telegrammes sent off after luncheon but more to the Sorceress I don’t know where she is a lie for she is curled in my heart. At four it begins to grow dark Auguste exhausted is back from Dijon I put him in the back seat with Narcisse and Sykes and I sit in front We are off for Paris I drive like the wind and in two hours we have covered 140 kilometres an average of 70 kilometres an hour. Pas mauvais. But near Paris there is traffic and we had to slow down. We got in about eight and I found my Introduction to the Word and sent it back by express to Saint-Dizier all because I like the word Slipper. A nursery game called Hunt-the-Slipper. A flower called Lady-Slipper. Running in the Gold Cup a horse called Slipper. Drinking champagne out of her Red Slipper. Her ears two little slippers for the feet of my voice (see Transit of Venus) From these magic sources the development of the word Slipper in my mind so that it becomes internal and therefore as much a part of me as my eyes or heart or mouth or hands
from Edward Germain, ed. Shadows of the Sun: The Diaries of Harry Crosby (Santa Barbara: Black Sparrow Press, 1977), 282-283. Copyright 1977 Edward Germain.
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