Scott Hightower
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
Tennessee Williams knew how
to mine the kinetics of cruelty.
Not the inverted and demure,
“I’ll roll over, and let you
ravish me, you he-man man, you!”
Forget Stella. No. It’s Stanley,
the shrieking infantile god,
who’s vicious; who’s had enough
of just “whistling Dixie;”
who finally succumbs
to being topped
by Stella’s transvestite
brother, who, in turn,
has had enough
of railroad Johns,
and of turning
hotel tricks
in the magical
and occupying
glow of paper
and red
glass lanterns
Scott Hightower is a poet living with one foot in New York City, one in Texas, and one in Madrid. His third collection, Part of the Bargain, received the 2004 Hayden Carruth Award. His translations from Spanish have garnered him a Willis Barnstone Translation Prize. He is a contributing editor to The Journal, and his reviews frequently appear in Coldfront Magazine and Boxcar Poetry Review. He teaches at NYU, and has taught poetry, non-fiction, and translation at Drew, F.I.T., Fordham, and Poets House.