Still Water
Prose Poems
Copyright @ 1989 by Arthur Garfunkel
ISBN 0-525-24795-5
Used by persmission of Author - All Rights Reserved
7
I will write my story backwards,
to February '79. To Laurie Bird,
when I saw her last in longjohns
red one-piece monkeybaby we said
goodbye one morning (was it March 3?)
in a fireplace room in Aspen. I flew off
to Vienna. I cross-country skied first at
the other end of Austria, practicing "Milena"
in the snow.I spent four months with Milena — walked with her
to her chosen suicide attempt, in the story. Nic Roeg
led me.
But
Phoenixlike she will rise in the final pages of my back-
wards book. Finally, what a sobbing writer I shall be then.
With resurrection music, with Phil Spector's ..... "Old Man
River," I will reveal How great our love. How great my loss.
I'll span from here to there in sequence: cycle three of
Paul and Artie work (to stave off a stumble); excur-
sions in Europe; Alexandre Walker; fan mail;
my books; Central Park;Scissors Cut;
her diaries; my three-tiered "story" —
a)our four-year history, b)my life
Feb. to Aug. '79, c)theBad
Timing script; her death;
our love; Her.
On a flight LA to NYCJanuary 1984