a performance dialogue

Friday, November 16, 2007

(from Marcus)
while I remember...
http://www.lifesci.ucsb.edu/~haddock/poems/matthew.html

1 comment:

Dorothy Ker said...

turns out I have it in his book of selected poems.

The part that catches my eye in relation to what we were talking about yesterday is:

'an infinite voice pronounced these things--
things, not words. This is my feeble translation,
time-bound, of what was a single limitless Word:'

The ‘time-bound...single limitless Word’ is again perhaps that idea of divisive infinity while the ‘infinite voice’ the continuous line. But I’m also really curious about the pronouncement of ‘things, not words’. There’s a key here to the way he’s thinking about his own writing.

(The use of the capital on Word I guess makes it God’s Word. The bible reference of the title reads - it's the parable of the talents, and this is the last line, rather horrible - 'And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth'. His poems are in general much more overtly spiritual and humanly exposed than his other writing.)

can't wait to read the whole chapter (of your book)!