INTRODUCING IRONY INTRODUCING IRONY A BOOK OF POETIC SHORT STORIES AND POEMS BY MAXWELL BODENHEIM [Illustration] NEW YORK BONI AND LIVERIGHT 1922 COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY BONI & LIVERIGHT, INC. _Printed in the United States of America_ _To_ FEDYA RAMSAY WHOSE HAND NEVER LEAVES MY SHOULDER Some of the poems and stories in this book have appeared in _The Dial_, _Harper’s Bazaar_, _The Little Review_, _The Nation_, _Cartoons Magazine_, _Poetry_, _A Magazine of Verse_, _The New York Globe_, _The Bookman_, _Vanity Fair_, _The Measure_ and _The Double Dealer_ CONTENTS PAGE JACK ROSE 11 SEAWEED FROM MARS 13 TURMOIL IN A MORGUE 18 CONDENSED NOVEL 21 MANNERS 23 AN ACROBAT, A VIOLINIST, AND A CHAMBERMAID CELEBRATE 25 NOVEL CONVERSATION 28 THE SCRUB-WOMAN 30 MEDITATIONS IN A CEMETERY 32 SIMPLE ACCOUNT OF A POET’S LIFE 34 CANDID NARRATIVE 37 UNLITERARY AND SHAMELESS 39 TWO SONNETS TO MY WIFE 40 FINALITIES, I-VIII 41 IMAGINARY PEOPLE, I-IV 47 UNEASY REFLECTIONS 50 SUMMER EVENING: NEW YORK SUBWAY STATION 50 GARBAGE HEAP 52 IMPULSIVE DIALOGUE 53 EMOTIONAL MONOLOGUE 56 PRONOUNCED FANTASY 59 WHEN SPIRITS SPEAK OF LIFE 61 INSANITY 64 POETRY 68 RELIGION 72 SCIENTIFIC PHILOSOPHY 75 ART 78 MUSIC 82 ETHICS 86 HISTORY 90 PSYCHIC PHENOMENA 94 LOVE 98 INTRODUCING IRONY JACK ROSE