June 5, 1915
Neuville St. Vaast
Dearest Mamusin*,
War is a vortex cubed,
I could tell you
I was wrong about the future.
Hell is a relentless whore
in two dimensions:
Life here is measured
blood by piss by death.
I've discovered
an aptitude for war,
you needn't worry
that I'm bored.
German rifle butts are made
of a lovely walnut wood,
dark and supple.
It's not difficult to get.
Yesterday, as I was carving
the rounded belly
of a pregnant goddess,
the head of the man next to me
exploded and I noted
there is no symmetry
to the pattern of the brain splatter.
The trenches fill with the stench
of bombs bursting intestines.
Men shatter like stones
struck wrong here, Zosienka**,
and I find I long for
the cool silence of marble.
Tell Ezra I was wrong.
only in death are we
finally freed from form.
Henri
*Polish for Mama
**Polish nickname for Sophie, Gaudier-Brzeska's life partner
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