A Note Left in Jimmy Leonard’s Shack

By James Wright 1927–1980 James Wright

Near the dry river’s water-mark we found

Your brother Minnegan,

Flopped like a fish against the muddy ground.

Beany, the kid whose yellow hair turns green,

Told me to find you, even in the rain,

And tell you he was drowned.

I hid behind the chassis on the bank,

The wreck of someone’s Ford:

I was afraid to come and wake you drunk:

You told me once the waking up was hard,

The daylight beating at you like a board.

Blood in my stomach sank.

Beside, you told him never to go out

Along the river-side

Drinking and singing, clattering about.

You might have thrown a rock at me and cried

I was to blame, I let him fall in the road

And pitch down on his side.

Well, I’ll get hell enough when I get home

For coming up this far,

Leaving the note, and running as I came.

I’ll go and tell my father where you are.

You’d better go find Minnegan before

Policemen hear and come.

Beany went home, and I got sick and ran,

You old son of a bitch.

You better hurry down to Minnegan;

He’s drunk or dying now, I don’t know which,

Rolled in the roots and garbage like a fish,

The poor old man.

James Wright, “A Note Left in Jimmy Leonard’s Shack” from Above the River: The Complete Poems and Selected Prose. Copyright © 1990 by James Wright. Reprinted by permission of Wesleyan University Press.

Source: Above the River: The Complete Poems and Selected Prose (1990)

Biography

James Wright was frequently referred to as one of America's finest contemporary poets. He was admired by critics and fellow poets alike for his willingness and ability to experiment with language and style, as well as for his thematic concerns. In the Minnesota Review, Peter A. Stitt wrote that Wright's work both represents and parallels the development of the best modern American poets: "Reading the Collected Poems of James . . .

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