A Good Critic

Mel Gussow dead at 71 Kafka shrugs I might have had a career like his started with a house on 11th Street I was in a fifth-floor walk up cold water tenement railroad pad my chosen path diverged I might have been Stoppard Marowitz Lanford Wilson in- stead remained became myself alive at 69 looking ahead not panicked energy decline I will be dead generations unimagined responsible themselves Alfred sawing in the barn make signs pull in audience driving back forth Salem audible inside he was a good critic wrote professional I disdained I do disdain even doing it myself serve interests I fled from dropping into free being following my heart