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EZRA POUND 301
out to see Ezra "just yet". In so far as I know, he never did go out
to see Ezra during his term at the Library.
When I informed Ezra of this response, he said that Aiken had
come to call one afternoon, in 1947, being supported on one side
by Allen Tate and on the other by Robert Lowell. Apparently
he had no desire to come out alone or even with me to beat the
brush for him.
Those who visited Ezra at my instigation provided very interesting
company for him. During the first couple of years of
my visits, there were few arrivals, and I was free to bring along
whomever I could persuade to make the trip, without giving Ezra
prior notice. One afternoon, I saw a typical American teen-ager in
Army uniform, loafing along "F" Street, looking very bored, as
people are apt to look in Washington. I was about to get on the
bus for the hospital, when, obeying a rascally impulse, I asked him
to come along. Since he had nothing better to do, he agreed. I
told him I was going to see a friend of mine, but nothing more.
If Ezra was surprised to see him, he concealed it from me.
The soldier turned out to be an interesting specimen. His conversational
gift was limited to two short sentences, "We're all in the
same boat!" and "Well, THAT's something!" The youth had no
idea who Ezra was, but he found him fascinating company, which
bears out Donahoe's contention that Ezra would be a great success
on American television.
The following day, I explained my prank to Ezra saying that I
wanted to keep him in touch with his homeland. In reality, Ezra
has never seen anything of America during his years here except
two universities and an insane asylum, which may explain his comment
when he landed in Italy in 1958, "All America is an insane
asylum!"
I had been a professional photographer and possessed a very
fine camera, which had the finest lens in the world. I was very
anxious to focus this instrument in Ezra's direction, but at first he
abruptly refused. Dorothy Pound informed me that it is against
the law to photograph any patient in a mental institution, a regulation
designed for their protection, as most of the patients could be
snapped in attitudes which would be shocking for them to see
later on, if they should be released.