Re: MD Poetic Quality

From: Joseph Maurer (jhmau@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Wed Oct 20 2004 - 17:40:46 BST

  • Next message: jainy maewood: "Re: MD Poetic Quality"

    Hi Mark:

    I liked the Anniversary of My Death. It spoke to me.

    Joe
    ----- Original Message -----
    From: "Mark Steven Heyman" <markheyman@infoproconsulting.com>
    To: <moq_discuss@moq.org>
    Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2004 11:36 AM
    Subject: MD Poetic Quality

    > Hi all,
    >
    > I love the bit in ZMM where Phaedrus demonstrates to his students
    > that they know what Quality is, even if they can't define it. I
    > thought it might be fun and instructive to try something similar
    > here. So, which of the following poems has the highest quality, and
    > why? (Note: I think both of these poems are great, so this is no
    > straw man operation here.)
    >
    > For the Anniversary of My Death
    >
    > Every year without knowing it I have passed the day
    > When the last fires will wave to me
    > And the silence will set out
    > Tireless traveller
    > Like the beam of a lightless star
    >
    > Then I will no longer
    > Find myself in life as in a strange garment
    > Surprised at the earth
    > And the love of one woman
    > And the shamelessness of men
    > As today writing after three days of rain
    > Hearing the wren sing and the falling cease
    > And bowing not knowing to what
    >
    >
    >
    > Sad Steps
    >
    > Groping back to bed after a piss
    > I part the thick curtains, and am startled by
    > The rapid clouds, the moon's cleanliness.
    >
    > Four o'clock: wedge-shaped gardens lie
    > Under a cavernous, a wind-pierced sky.
    > There's something laughable about this,
    >
    > The way the moon dashes through the clouds that blow
    > Loosely as cannon-smoke to stand apart
    > (Stone-coloured light sharpening the roofs below)
    >
    > High and preposterous and separate--
    > Lozenge of love! Medallion of art!
    > O wolves of memory! Immensements! No,
    >
    > One shivers slightly, looking up there.
    > The hardness and the brightness and the plain
    > Far-reaching singleness of that wide stare
    >
    > Is a reminder of the strength and pain
    > Of being young; that it can't come again,
    > But is for others undiminished somewhere.
    >
    >
    >
    > Thanks for any feedback,
    > Mark Steven Heyman (msh)
    > --
    > InfoPro Consulting - The Professional Information Processors
    > Custom Software Solutions for Windows, PDAs, and the Web Since 1983
    > Web Site: http://www.infoproconsulting.com
    >
    > "Thought is only a flash between two long nights, but this flash is
    > everything." -- Henri Poincare'
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
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