Fantastic! The underlying message is true: that we become and share with true art that has crossed our path - and moreover that we can actually converse and learn the dead ("Mojito with Hemingway")... art is the means by which we truly transcend death - I know Nietzsche like a close friend, which is a testament to his skill, but I know him like a wonderful weird uncle, or a consternating pal.
Technically, I found I enjoyed this transition especially:
"I am Hester Prynne, Mrs. Ramsay and Carol Milford;
I might be Babbitt."
I like the confidence of the first line, the declarative certainty, and then the snippet "I might be...", which is a nice, delicious twist.
Thanks for the reminder, DPenn, that with poetry
we might "live forever".
I fought windmills with Don Quixote;
I am Sancho.
I rafted down the river as Huck Finn
and eluded Javert with Jean Valjean.
I lived through Napoleon's invasion of Rusia
and threw myself under a train because of Count Vronsky.
I am Hester Prynne, Mrs. Ramsay and Carol Milford;
I might be Babbitt.
I lived in China as Wang Lung.
I felt the existential angst of Raskolnikov.
I lived in a one room hell with Garcin.
I also lived on Tortilla Flat
and traveled with the joads along Route 66...
You think I could exchange my soul for 30 pieces of silver
and a pension plan?
No!
You think any material pleasure
the world or man has to offer can
reach my soul?
I would just as soon hang myself from a tree
and let my guts spill out
rather than be a sellout...
So,
I will have a Mojito with Hemingway,
fill my pockets with rocks,
walk into the river Ouse...
And live forever.
(I want to thank Writch for helping me a little bit but if you don't like it blame me. I would like to be a real poet when I grow up.)