Fare Forward: Letters from David Markson

Feb 17 ’06

Symsy, gal—

You think you’re a poet? Ha, get this. I’ve just received royalty statements on mine,⁷⁶ for Jan ’05 through June ’05—the usual delay of six months, plus processing. In that earlier six months — a dozen years after publication — I sold SEVEN COPIES! Willie Yeats is turning over in his grave. Eddie Poe weeps where he lies. Johnny Keats whimpers.

SEVEN COPIES! IMMORTALITY.

Ha.

Thine—

David

P.S. You’re doomed if you tell a soul!

76 Collected Poems. David Markson (Dalkey Archive Press, 1993).