@@@@@The one that had been Illy's 176
@@@@@The one that had been Illy's ideaThe
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Gulf, usually so blue during my time on Duma Key,
I had painted a dull and ominous greenOverhead,
the sky was filled with black clouds; they massed
to the top of the canvas and out of sight
My right arm began to itch, and that remembered
sensation of power began to flow first into me and
then through meI could see my picture almost
with the eye of a godI could
give this up, but it would not be easy
When I made pictures, I fell in love with the
world
When I made pictures, I felt whole
I painted awhile, then put the brush asideI
mixed brown and yellow together with the ball of
my thumb, then skimmed it over the painted beachand a haze of sand lifted, as if
on the first hesitant puff of air
On Duma Key, beneath the black sky of an inriding
June storm, a wind began to rise
How to Draw a Picture (XII)
1120
Know when you're finished, and when you are, put
your pencil or your paintbrush downAll the rest
is only life
February 2006-June 2007
Afterthoughts
I have taken liberties with the geography of
Florida's west coast, and with its history, as
wellAlthough Dave Davis was real, and did indeed
disappear, he is used here fictionally
And no one in Florida calls out-of-season storms
"Alices" except me
I want to thank my wife, the novelist Tabitha King,
who read this book in an early draft and suggested
valuable changes; the Sweet Owen cookie-tin was
only one of them
I want to thank Russ Dorr, my old medical friend,
who patiently explained both Broca's area and the
physics of contracoup injuries
I also want to thank Chuck Verrill, who edited the
book with his usual combination of gentleness and
ruthlessness
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Teddy Rosenbaum, my friend and copy-editor: muchas
gracias
And you, my old friend Constant Reader; always youA Word from the Publisher to the ReaderTwenty-seven years ago I was fortunate enough to be associated with the publication of John Dos Passos' Three SoldiersIn no year since have I felt the same surge of excitement for a war novel -- not until the manuscript of Norman Mailer's The Naked and the Dead was readied for publica
