1944, COLUMBIA

A cute midshipman, pledged to SAE,

With nothing on my mind but gunnery,

I took the turning flight of stairs, down

From the downtown club-house rented rooms

Into the Main Street of the Palmetto Capital.

Above me, a gigantic woman, marble,

Veiled in peau de soie, a presentiment

30 stories high, afflatus, the first touch

Of madness and first subject of my poetry.