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176
near the stairs
This busy lame-brain,
This picker-up of ideas
Discarded by their owners,
This maimed intelligence
Hobbling to catch up,
Eager to compete, arriving
At the arena after
It has emptied, this
Challenger and fl incher
With the wrecked, zestful mentality,
This poor devil, pity
And keep clear of him,
He'd trip you with his crutch
Should he fi nd himself beside you
At the head of the stairs.
fragment
... and still, deep down, in your personal
La Brea Tar Pits, sunken
some of them these twenty years,
like so many mastodons, sloths,
sabre-toothed tigers,
this hulking collection
of old hatreds, perfectly preserved.