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A Rimbaud Stratagem
What is it about certain books that we buy and then leave untouched on the shelf? Or books we open now and then, sample a few paragraphs, then close and reshelve, temporizing: “Not in the mood”; “Too serious for summer”; “I need to read more about the period before trying this one”; “I need to learn French first.” But you never learn French. And yet finally—many years after buying the book—a strategem comes to mind, and a few days later you’ve read it, enjoyed it, been somehow awakened by it.Read More
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Super Ekphrasticalistic!
Engaged as I am at the moment in writing a poem based on a painting, I found this essay by Alfred Corn on ekphrasis especially interesting. The challenge, it seems to me, is how to describe while moving beyond description to convey the emotional/intellectual content encoded in the forms.Read More