The Two Elite Audiences
The day of the great steeplechase, the queen-mother
wore blue velvet stockings. One of the king's mis-
tresses came up to him at the grandstand: "Prince, that
woman is not your mother; she has no right to the
throne whose prerogatives she usurps!" In a long
speech, the king praised prostitution then married the
mistress, a prostitute. A servant wearing glasses who
slept in the kitchen on the top of an ornamented
porcelain stove was pleased with the marriage. What do the elites think?
The audience of first-nighters thought the speech on prostitution was too long,
while the other elite audience applauded it warmly.
Le cornet à dés -55-
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Publication Information: Book Title: The Selected Poems of Max Jacob. Contributors: Max Jacob - author, William Kulik - editor, William Kulik - transltr. Publisher: Oberlin College Press. Place of Publication: Oberlin, OH. Publication Year: 1999. Page Number: 55.