Insanity
Mr. Jacob Bond, age 40, a book-keeper,
suffered a moment of insanity
as he was dressing this morning
before the mirror in the bedroom
shared by him and his wife—
Bond in his white underwear,
Bond of the parafine body
with his flat arms and legs
and crowned by a shining scalp,
was visited by a moment of insanity:
Ridiculous to gaze through a pair of glasses
At a shirt handed one by one’s wife
And to feel in its starched erectness
A fear of its coming to life
And taking up the rote of the office
Unconcerned by the absence of Bond.
suffered a moment of insanity
as he was dressing this morning
before the mirror in the bedroom
shared by him and his wife—
Bond in his white underwear,
Bond of the parafine body
with his flat arms and legs
and crowned by a shining scalp,
was visited by a moment of insanity:
Ridiculous to gaze through a pair of glasses
At a shirt handed one by one’s wife
And to feel in its starched erectness
A fear of its coming to life
And taking up the rote of the office
Unconcerned by the absence of Bond.
This poem appeared in the April 1930 issue of the New Masses, an art and literature magazine produced by the CPUSA. The author is Howard Baker.