Olga Rudge & Ezra Pound: "What Thou Lovest Well..."

163 The Road to Hell
Rome oggi. Naturally hope to be able to pass via Sant’Ambrogio and get
your news.’’
Ezra believed he was on the first leg of the journey to Washington via
Rome when he was handcu√ed to a black prisoner (‘‘a murderer!’’ as Olga
learned later) and loaded into a jeep by the military police. The caravan
passed through Rapallo, but he was not allowed to stop or to leave
messages.
The commanding o≈cer, Lieutenant Colonel John L. Steele, was away
from the camp in Pisa when they brought Pound in, and the o≈cer in
charge did not recognize the new prisoner or know why he was there.
Cabled instructions from Washington called for ‘‘utmost security measures,’’
with an added warning to ‘‘prevent escape or suicide.’’ Strict
orders were followed. Pound was issued an army fatigue uniform and told
to remove his belt and shoelaces. A guard shoved him roughly into a
corner cell with strong steel mesh used to make temporary runways for
aircraft. Ezra said later that it reminded him of the gorilla cage in the
Roman zoo. ‘‘They thought I was dangerous, a wild man . . . they were
scared of me,’’ he boasted to young acolytes at Saint Elizabeth’s Hospital.
‘‘Soldiers used to come up to the cage and look at me. Some brought me
food. Old Ez was a prize exhibit.’’
Army rations were shoved through the bars once a day; a can in the
corner of the cage, seldom emptied, served as a latrine. When night came,
and with it rain, one of the guards gave Ezra several blankets, but these
o√ered little comfort on the damp concrete floor. Powerful overhead
floodlights glared all night; it was impossible to sleep. The searing Italian
sun bore down all day. He would later write in Canto 83:
No man who has passed a month in the death cells
believes in cages for beasts.
After several weeks of good behavior, Pound was allowed a pup tent
inside the cage to protect him from sun and rain. The sixty-year-old
prisoner exercised daily, playing imaginary tennis and boxing to keep fit,
but he began to feel dizzy and claustrophobic. The camp psychiatrist was