Water Street marks a turning point in James Merrill's writing; the book is "local and particular: it calls attention to where, and by implication how, the poet is living." Included here are the covers of two 1962 editions, with inscriptions and an…
James Merrill's poem "Death Masks" from an issue of the Lawrenceville publication The Lit. The poem is a dramatic monologue spoken by a man who sells death masks made from the faces of artists.