User:Chelsey.brantley/sandbox: Difference between revisions
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==I== | ==I== | ||
So what if I could kick the shit out of Truman Capote, and who really cares that once in a Newark bar, unknown to each other, I sprained the wrist of E.L. Doctorow in a harmless arm wrestle. For years I’ve kicked around in out-of-the-way places, sparred for a few bucks or just for kicks with the likes of Scrap Iron Johnson, Phil Rahv, Kenny Burke, and Chico Vejar. But, you know, I’m getting older too. When I feel the quick arthritic pains fly through my knuckles, I ask myself, Where are your poems and novels? Where are your long-limbed girls with cunts like tangerines? Yes, I’ve had a few successes. There are towns in America where people recognize me on the street and ask what I’m up to these days. ‘’I’m thirty-three,” I tell them, “in the top of my form. I’m up to the best. I’m up to Norman Mailer.” | So what if I could kick the shit out of Truman Capote, and who really cares that once in a Newark bar, unknown to each other, I sprained the wrist of E. L. Doctorow in a harmless arm wrestle. For years I’ve kicked around in out-of-the-way places, sparred for a few bucks or just for kicks with the likes of Scrap Iron Johnson, Phil Rahv, Kenny Burke, and Chico Vejar. But, you know, I’m getting older too. When I feel the quick arthritic pains fly through my knuckles, I ask myself, Where are your poems and novels? Where are your long-limbed girls with cunts like tangerines? Yes, I’ve had a few successes. There are towns in America where people recognize me on the street and ask what I’m up to these days. ‘’I’m thirty-three,” I tell them, “in the top of my form. I’m up to the best. I’m up to Norman Mailer.” | ||
They think I’m kidding, but the history of our game is speckled with the | |||
unlikely. Look at Pete Rademacher—not even a pro. Fresh from a threeround Olympic decision, he got a shot at Floyd Patterson, made the cover of | |||
Sports Illustrated, picked up an easy hundred grand. Now that is one fight | |||
that Mr. Mailer, the Iiterary lion, chose not to discuss. The clash between | |||
pro and amateur didn’t grab his imagination like two spades in Africa or the | |||
dark passion of Emile Griffith. Yes, you know how to pick your spots, Norman. I who have studied your moves think that your best instinct is judgment. It’s your secret punch. You knew how to stake out Kennedy and | |||
Goldwater, but on the whole you kept arm’s length from Nixon. Humphrey | |||
never earned you a dime. | |||
Ali, the moon, scrappy broads, dirty walls, all meat to you, slugger. But {{pg|504|505}} | |||