Here's a story I heard from a professor of mine: Robert Frost (I love this Eisenstadt photo of him) and Wallace Stevens got into a fistfight in Key West. Stevens said, "Frost, you know the problem with you? You write about 'things.'" And Frost said, "Stevens, you know the problem with you? You write about bric-a-brac.'" And they hit each other. One of them (Stevens?) broke a finger or knuckle and didn't tell his wife where it came from.
This made for a riveting anecdote to the edition of me that existed circa 1996. But now, with Google at my back, I can't verify this story. The closest version I can find corroborates that these words, or a rough approximation, were somehow exchanged, but perhaps without the fisticuffs. Which, to me, make it a better story. Was my professor pulling our collective, gouty leg? Someone, tell me, what's the Honest to Gawd truth?
