Indeed
No poetry yesterday either. It was so cold and damp that I headed straight for a hot bath after dinner, which made me drowsy. Before I knew what happened it was morning and Anne Carson was lying on the bed next to me.
I've been stealing bits of time today for Glass, Irony and God. I'd like to say something intelligent about why I'm enjoying it so much, but I'm not really supposed to think here at the office. Unintelligently I'll remark that Carson's formal pyrotechnics in this book are minimal, but goddamn does she have something to say. I'll risk getting busted by quoting you this, from "The Fall of Rome: A Traveller's Guide":
VII.
Who I am doesn't matter.
As you see me
fighting to survive,
fighting to be esteemed and honoured
(so that my past vanishes),
you will dismiss me as nothing terrific.
Fair enough
but there is one thing about me:
I can take you to Anna Xenia.
I need another hot bath just as soon as I can get out of here. It's snowing. SNOWING! and heavily this afternoon. April. Lilacs. Dead land. Sigh.
Comments
Snowed here too last night (Minneapolis), just a touch of it here in the city, though inches of it further north in the state. Turned sharply colder, too -- a week and a half ago the high temps were up around 80, now tonight the low supposed to be 16 degrees.
I decided to try the poem-a-day thing this year, so far going okay, at the moment I'm actually a poem ahead, though will see if I can keep it going.
I've read just a little of Anne Carson. I kind of liked Eros, the Bittersweet (though didn't get through all of it); did quite a bit like her book of Sappho translations If Not, Winter.
The lines you quoted sound perfect to put up on the wall of an office cube, though I'm not sure offhand who/what Anna Xenia is. (Puzzled cat expression.) Though maybe that's clear in the context of the book.
Posted by: Lyle Daggett | April 4, 2007 10:24 PM