All last night I kept speaking in this
archaic language, because I had been reading
Poe and thinking about him. I read ‘The Murders
in the Rue Morgue’ which is supposedly the first
detective story. Who dun it? I wondered.
It turns out an orangutan was the murderer.
It looks to me like the detective story genre got off
to a pretty ridiculous start. I used to visit
Poe’s house in the Bronx. I used to think,
God, Poe must have been a midget. Everything
is so small. Poe died in Baltimore and I can see why.
In Baltimore, all the people are very big and sincere.
During dinner last night, I told Doug and Susan
about ‘Murders in the Rue Morgue.’ I said I hadn’t
finished it yet, but it looked like the murderer
was going to turn out to be an orangutan, unless
the plot took a surprising new twist. Then Doug
suggested that he and I collaborate
on a series of detective stories in which
the murderer is <i>always</i> an orangutan.
[from <u>The Great Indoors</u>, Story Line Press, 1995]
<a href=’http://www.terencewinch.com’>http://www. terencewinch.com</a>
(Terence Winch)
More Poetry from Terence Winch:
Terence Winch Poems based on Topics: Night, People, God, Sincerity, Language- Non-Possession is One-Tenth of the Law (Terence Winch Poems)
- My Friends (Terence Winch Poems)
- Social Security (Terence Winch Poems)
- Sleep Waltz (Terence Winch Poems)
- Mission Statement (Terence Winch Poems)
- Diagnosis (Terence Winch Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: God Poems, Night Poems, People Poems, Language Poems, Sincerity PoemsBased on Keywords: bronx, morgue, detective, midget, href=, terencewinch, doug, supposedly, collaborate, genre