“LOVE IN BROOKLYN”

By: John Wakeman

AUTHOR: John WakemanJohn Wakeman (died 1549) was an English Benedictine, the last Abbot of Tewkesbury and first Bishop of Gloucester, both posts in the English county of Gloucestershire. In the earlier part of his life he went by the name John Wiche.

He was the second son of William Wakeman of Drayton, Worcestershire. He supplicated in the name of John Wyche, for the degree of Bachelor of Divinity on 3 February 1511. His most famous work is the poem “‘Love in Brooklyn.”

CENTRAL IDEA: “Love In Brooklyn”The first speaker, a man who isn’t probably too attractive and doesn’t have the best luck with ladies is shy around the woman at the bar. As he tells her he loves her, he blows his nose. He tries to prove his sincerity for her by saying he watched her go up in her job, and also by comparing her to a tank that he saw in WWII. “I saw a tank slide though some trees at dawn like it was God. That’s how you make me feel.” It’s an interesting simile that has to do with destruction, and links life, love, and death together. In the end we learn that he is in fact a bigger man that’s subconscious about himself. We’re able to continue to question whether or not his love for this girl is actual love or just an infatuation.

The beautiful young woman, who has probably been hit on many times, doesn’t want an insincere guy. She doesn’t believe the man when he says he loves her, and instead throws a drink at him. After he convinces her that he’s different, the poem’s tone changes along with her feelings towards the man. Like once before, she jokes with the man, but this time in a more jokingly manner. When they were able to come to an understanding that he wasn’t just any guy, they grew a fondness towards each other.

POETRY READING BY: Carl Jerald M. Castillejos HFI11 WORLITE

LOVE IN BROOKLYN by: John Wakeman“I love you, Horowitz,” he said, and blew his nose.

She splashed her drink. “The hell you say,” she said.“Not love. You don’t love me. You like my legs,and how I make your letters nice and all.You drunk your drink too fast. You don’t love me.”

“You wanna bet?” he asked. “You wanna bet?I loved you from the day they moved you upfrom Payroll, last July. I watched you, right?You sat there on that typing chair you haveand swung round like a kid. It made me shake.Like once, in World War II, I saw a tankslide through some trees at dawn like it was a god.That’s how you make me feel. I don’t know why.”

She turned towards him, then sat back and grinned,and on the bar stool swung full circle round.“You think I’m like a tank, you mean?” she asked.“Some fellers tell me nicer things than that.”But then she saw his face and touched his armand softly said, “I’m only kidding you.”

He ordered drinks, the same again, and paid.A fat man, wordless, staring at the floor.She took his hand in hers and pressed it hard.And his plump fingers trembled in her lap.