''Rommel Drives on Deep into Egypt'' is

Richard Brautigan Richard Gary Brautigan (January 30, 1935 – c. September 16, 1984) was an American novelist, poet, and short story writer. A prolific writer, he wrote throughout his life and published ten novels, two collections of short stories, and four bo ...

's eighth poetry publication and includes 58 poems. The title of the book echoes a 1942 ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The pap ...

'' headline describing a successful operation by

Rommel Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel () (15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944) was a German field marshal during World War II. Popularly known as the Desert Fox (, ), he served in the ''Wehrmacht'' (armed forces) of Nazi Germany, as well as servi ...

during the North African Campaign of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

.''Rommel Drives On Deep into Egypt'' entry on Brautigan website
/ref> The six line title poem, reminiscent of

Ozymandias "Ozymandias" ( ) is a sonnet written by the English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822). It was first published in the 11 January 1818 issue of '' The Examiner'' of London. The poem was included the following year in Shelley's coll ...

, uses this headline to examine the transitory nature of both human endeavor and the reader of the poem. The photograph on the cover of the first edition is of model Beverly Allen and was taken by

Edmund Shea Edmund Shea (August 15, 1942 – September 17, 2004) was an American photographer based in San Francisco. Shea's work is featured on book covers, including works by Richard Brautigan and Hunter S. Thompson, and record album covers for music by ...

in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. Rommel is dead. His army has joined the quicksand legions of history where the battle is always a metal echo saluting a rusty shadow. His tanks are gone. How's your ass? "Rommel Drives on Deep into Egypt" (1970)

References

External links

Entry on Brautigan.net
1970 poetry books Works by Richard Brautigan American poetry collections Books with cover art by Edmund Shea {{poetry-collection-stub