Renowned Poet James T. Farrell Writes Poem About John Kennedy's Assassination -- "Six Seconds Of Naked Tragedy"

JAMES THOMAS FARRELL (February 27, 1904 – August 22, 1979) was an American novelist, short-story writer and poet.  

Farrell’s papers are housed at the University of Delaware.  One such manuscript deals with his impressions of John F. Kennedy, written during the 1960 presidential election.

He stated in an interview that “When the first Kennedy was assassinated, I wrote a poem. It was inserted in the Congressional Record. It wasn’t very good though.”

Offered here is the Signed Manuscript Poem, 1963, written in pencil on two sheets, 4 ½ x 6”, on 1964 Democratic National Convention telephone message center note paper. “John Fitzgerald Kennedy/He rode, smiling, in sun and triumph/Six seconds of naked tragedy/And of the ultimate terrible beauty of death/He was no more/We wept in the solicitudes of our silence/With solidarity of grief/1963/James T. Farrell”

Written in pencil, with folds, light toning and soiling, but very readable and an excellent example Kennedy history.

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