Rereading Thomas Bernhard’s Concrete
The same copy
I first read twenty years ago
with only one
sentence underlined:
It is our misfortune that we always decide
in favor of something
that turns out to be contrary
to our wishes.
And I wonder about
the young guy who marked this,
if he still agrees with it
and what he wished for
and whether or not
he got it.
*
Clint Margrave is the author of several books of fiction and poetry, including the novel Lying Bastard (Run-Amok Books), and three poetry collections Salute the Wreckage, The Early Death of Men, and most recently, Visitor, all from NYQ Books. His work has appeared in The Threepenny Review, Rattle, The Moth, ONE ART, and Los Angeles Review of Books, among others.
Bernhard’s novel, Correction, inspired my first, long-ago, grad school publication, a feminist pastiche written in the book’s obsessive style. Your seemingly effortless, provocative poem makes me want to revisit that (my) story and the young woman who wrote it, although I’m not sure I can bear Bernhard again. Thank you for this poem, most especially that wonderful closing stanza.