Weldon Kees

• Robinson
• The dog stops barking after Robinson has gone. 
• His act is over. The world is a gray world, 
• Not without violence, and he kicks under the grand piano, 
• The nightmare chase well under way. 

• The mirror from Mexico, stuck to the wall, 
• Reflects nothing at all. The glass is black. 
• Robinson alone provides the image Robinsonian. 

• Which is all of the room—walls, curtains, 
• Shelves, bed, the tinted photograph of Robinson’s first wife, 
• Rugs, vases panatelas in a humidor. 
• They would fill the room if Robinson came in. 

• The pages in the books are blank, 
• The books that Robinson has read. That is his favorite chair, 
• Or where the chair would be if Robinson were here. 

• All day the phone rings. It could be Robinson 
• Calling. It never rings when he is here. 

• Outside, white buildings yellow in the sun. 
• Outside, the birds circle continuously 
• Where trees are actual and take no holiday.

Weldon Kees (1914-disappeared 1955) was an American poet, novelist, critic and playwright who had also worked across a spectrum of other media, including painting, jazz music and filmmaking. His poetry influenced and was influenced by fellow mid-century American poets such as John Berryman, Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell. Perhaps due to his failed marriage and subsequent drug abuse, Kees disappeared on July 19, 1955. His car was found abandoned near the Golden Gate Bridge. It is presumed that he either moved to Mexico and died in obscurity or committed suicide. His reputation was resuscitated in large part thanks to the American poet Donald Justice, who published his collected poems in 1959. Kees is now considered one of the premier American poets of the mid-20th century.