Impossible was not for him by Valery Oisteanu
To Barney Rosset
Spill green beer onto the ground
From a glass with a clover on it
Talking to Astrid about your Irish mother
Happy St Patrick’s Day Barney!
I cannot believe you are gone
Gone but not forgotten
The phosphorescence of your voice
On the corner of Grove Street
Where Grove Press started
The shadows of Miller and Becket
They come to me in a dream
Barney in his couch, in his chair at Veselka
Lost in the maze of books at the Strand
Books that created resistance in Bucharest
Ionesco, in the Evergreen review, devoured by the underground
Translating Gregory Corso into Romanian
I cannot believe Barney is gone
Astrid replies, “neither can I, only at night…”
A giant painting on the wall with assemblages
Sits lonely in the darkness waiting for you
Your spirit is all around us nocturnally, eternally.
Valery Oisteanu was born in Russia (1943) and educated in Romania and France. He is the author of 10 books of poetry, a book of short fiction and a book of essays. For the past 11 years he has been a columnist for NY Arts Magazine and an art critic for Brooklyn Rail and Artnet. He is also a contributing writer for French, Spanish, Canadian & Romanian art and literary magazines: La Page Blanche, Dart International, Art, Viata Romaneasca, Romania Literara, Altitudini, et al.
Valery, this is a beautiful tribute to an enormous literary and human presence. Ah, the elders. We miss them so.
On behalf of Valery, we here at Evergreen would like to thank you for the kind words.