Tuesday, December 09, 2008

William Fuller: Sadly

Sadly, William Fuller (Flood Editions, 2003)

If anything, even more disorienting that Watchword, & at the same time a trifle more laconic. Still, tremendous stuff. Fuller indulges his lyrical gifts rather less in this one. The last poem, "I Now Think I Was Wrong," is Wallace Stevens without all illusions, stripped of all gaiety:
Returning to the spring, we see green on the surface
of the water. This is not the earth. Stand still, monkey,
do not run. None of us was ever here before.

[53/100]
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2 comments:

  1. E. M. Selinger7:37 AM

    Wow. Stevens w/o gaiety, is it, or Bronk with just a touch more?

    "None of us was ever here before": iambic pentameter. The "here before us" meter. Priceless.

    Is that the whole poem? Could be good for a dictation verse, if so.

    Good way to start my day, Mark! & this before coffee--

    Tx for the Patti Smith link hier soir--
    E

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  2. Mark Scroggins10:36 AM

    Yup, that's the whole poem -- & yes, rather (uncharacteristically) Bronkian.

    Noticed thruout my workshop this fall, as never before, how the poets almost instinctively turn towards the old meters when it comes time for the big closure.

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