Continually amaz'd by the way the one sentence poem, in the hands of this master, irresistibly seduces us into and then mercifully shows us a way out of the labyrinth. Sometimes several different interesting exit options, yet. We were not locked in that cave after all!
This sort of thing redeems and restores the good name of the period.
(Let's not even venture out into that anathema zone lately known pejoratively as closure. Perish the thought of escape! Beyond the conference chamber there may even be -- dread thought -- some fresh air!)
Thanks again, Tom, for your most generous comments. For some reason, they send me to Cavafy’s
Che fece…il gran rifiuto
For some people the day comes when they have to declare the great Yes or the great No. It’s clear at once who has the Yes ready within him; and saying it,
he goes forward in honor and self-assurance. He who refuses does not repent. Asked again, he would still say no. Yet that no—the right no— undermines him all his life.
Vassilis, I've spent the night reflecting upon your reflections upon the reflections in the plate glass window of another work of "grand refusal". And we will not have heard the last of this directional signal you have generously provided, my sharp-eyed squinty-kid friend.
(Well, talking of generosity, I see I have robbed CP of an "s" in his first name, and compounded the dithering by adding an unwanted set of closing quotes in the title. Embarrassing, disrespectful, symptomatic!)
Continually amaz'd by the way the one sentence poem, in the hands of this master, irresistibly seduces us into and then mercifully shows us a way out of the labyrinth. Sometimes several different interesting exit options, yet. We were not locked in that cave after all!
ReplyDeleteThis sort of thing redeems and restores the good name of the period.
(Let's not even venture out into that anathema zone lately known pejoratively as closure. Perish the thought of escape! Beyond the conference chamber there may even be -- dread thought -- some fresh air!)
Thanks again, Tom, for your most generous comments. For some reason, they send me to Cavafy’s
ReplyDeleteChe fece…il gran rifiuto
For some people the day comes
when they have to declare the great Yes
or the great No. It’s clear at once who has the Yes
ready within him; and saying it,
he goes forward in honor and self-assurance.
He who refuses does not repent. Asked again,
he would still say no. Yet that no—the right no—
undermines him all his life.
[Translated by Edmund Keeley/Philip Sherrard]
Vassilis, I've spent the night reflecting upon your reflections upon the reflections in the plate glass window of another work of "grand refusal". And we will not have heard the last of this directional signal you have generously provided, my sharp-eyed squinty-kid friend.
ReplyDeleteWell, Vassilis, the "other shoe" has now dropped twice in the night.
ReplyDelete(I think I'm hearing footsteps... I think I'm hearing footsteps... he echoed.)
The first of these is dedicated gratefully to you, my generous friend.
(No one but myself to blame for the second, however.)
Contantine P. Cavafy: Che fece ... il gran rifiuto (The Great Refusal)"
The Great Yes
(Well, talking of generosity, I see I have robbed CP of an "s" in his first name, and compounded the dithering by adding an unwanted set of closing quotes in the title. Embarrassing, disrespectful, symptomatic!)
ReplyDelete