University of Northern Iowa

SuzannahAuthor(s): John LoganSource: The North American Review, Vol. 250, No. 4 (Sep., 1965), p. 7Published by: University of Northern IowaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25116215 .

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UNREQUIRED READING List of ten books for a desert island: 1. Boy Scout Handbook 2. Henley's Twentieth Century Formulas, Recipes,

and Processes; containing ten thousand selected

household, workshop and scientific formulas, trade

secrets, chemical recipes, processes, etc.

3. Eight blank notebooks.

Deliver us from a clear, bright, guiding light. So

many who have such a beacon stare into its brilliance until dazzled blind. They stumble and blunder and

stagger through life trampling on all others who cannot see the same light. Too many of us suffer from the blind staggers.

*****

Upon a blessed few is bestowed the rare gift of being able to know and at the same time of being able to communicate with others. This remarkable quality is

particularly rare among scholars and scientists, fields in which too few are able to contribute the profit of a lifetime of devoted study to those of us who have less

preparation and background in the subject than do

they. Two outstanding examples of such exceptions are Loren Eiseley and Edith Hamilton.

Loren Eiseley writes of man and the natural world, Miss Hamilton of ancient Greece. Without qualifica

tion, I highly recommend:

Eiseley, The Firmament of Time. Atheneum, New

York, 1960. 181 pp. The Immense Journey. Random House, New York, 1957. 210 pp.

Hamilton, The Greek Way. W. W. Norton, New

York, 1930. 247 pp. The Echo of Greece. W. W. Norton, New York, 1957. 224 pp.

When Eiseley writes, "It is not the outward powers of man the toolmaker that threaten us. It is a growing danger which has already afflicted vast areas of the world?the danger that we have created an unbearable last idol for our worship. That idol, that uncreate and ruined visage which confronts us daily, is no less than

man made natural," or Miss Hamilton, "the Greeks invented the idea of freedom," a reader understands

what is being said and why. Without affectations, footnotes, pretense of omnisc

ience or without being dull, but with brevity, these two

towering twentieth century specialists speak clearly to the millions of us who compose the Great Unwashed

Mass?the non-specialists.

BER

SUZANNAH

You make us want to stay alive, Suzannah, the way you turn

your blonde head. The way you curve your slim hand

toward your breast. When you drew your legs

up, sitting by the fire, and let your bronze hair

stream about your knees I could see the grief

of the girl in your eyes. It touched the high,

formal bones of your face.

Once I heard it in your lovely voice

when you sang?

the terrible time of being young.

Yet you bring us joy with your self, Suzannah, wherever you are.

And once, although I wasn't here

you left three roses on my stair.

One party night when you were high you fled barefoot down the hall,

the fountain of your laughter

showering through the air.

"Chartreuse," you chanted

(the liqueur you always wanted),

"I have yellow chartreuse hair!"

Oh it was a great affair.

You were the most exciting person there.

Yesterday when I wasn't here

again,

you brought a blue, porcelain

egg to me?

colored beautifully

for the Russian Easter.

Since then, Suzannah, I have wanted to be your

lover,

but I have only touched your shoulder

and let my fingers brush your hair,

because you left three roses on my stair.

John Logan

I_I September, 1965 7

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