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

165 The Road to Hell
Their correspondence resumed a more cordial note on June 14 when
Olga sent peace o√erings, and Dorothy thanked her for ‘‘the home-baked
loaf and the book you sent.’’ She enclosed another lire note for Olga, ‘‘as I
am expecting some money from England before too long.’’
Olga wired her daughter, still with her foster family in the Tyrol,
explaining the seriousness of Ezra’s situation. Mary said she was ‘‘very
upset by your telegram. . . . The war is over, but I have never been in such
an agitated state of mind as these last months.’’ The U.S. Army had moved
into the area, ‘‘some nice Hawayan boys, [who] have really charming
manners, and some have fine Japanese aristocratic features. It must be
lovely in Maway [Maui], they tell me.’’ She was hoping to hitch a ride with
them to Merano, and hence take the train Rapallo. ‘‘Everybody is scared of
the Italians,’’ she added, ‘‘and hope other Americans or English soldiers
will come soon.’’
In July, Olga sent another welcome gift of food to Villa Raggio. Dorothy
was glad to hear that ‘‘Mary is safe . . . the Old Lady [Isabel Pound] has
asked several times for news of the child.’’ She had reclaimed the via
Marsala apartment from the occupying U.S. Army but decided to give it
up. She would keep a room there for household goods, and she asked Olga
to pack and send down Ezra’s large brown suitcase with personal items.
The books, still in packing cases, were left in his room at Casa 60.
In late August, Dorothy received o≈cial notification that Ezra was
being held at the Detention Training Center at Pisa, where he had been all
the while—one hour from Rapallo. Only she, as next of kin, was permitted
to visit. On September 28, after ‘‘an awful journey,’’ she was allowed to see
Ezra for only one hour. His tent had a view of the mountains, she wrote
Olga, and the camp doctor appeared ‘‘intelligent.’’ ‘‘He [Ezra] looks wonderfully
well in khaki, with plenty of woolens underneath, and army
boots . . . food good, weight normal. . . . He is working on Confucius and
has done some more Cantos . . . allowed to receive correspondence, subject
to censorship, but only permitted to write to me.’’
Olga complained to John Drummond: ‘‘I just had a letter from D. [with]
a detailed account of his woolen underwear, but no mention of important
matters, such as whether he will conduct his own defense.’’ On October 9,
she wrote Ezra: ‘‘It’s hard writing into the blue, never knowing whether