by Nicholas A. DeBoer
V. The Example
I take it as my task, to shift from Pound’s difficult and untenable position of usura to that of the spectacle in my own work. To further this, here is an example of my process. Here are the opening lines from Canto 116:
Came Neptunus
his mind leaping
like dolphins,
These concepts the human mind has attained.
To make Cosmos -
To achieve the possible -
Muss., wrecked for an error,
But the record
the palimpsest -
a little light
in great darkness -
cuniculi [canals]
An old “crank” dead in Virginia.
Unprepared young burdened with records,
The vision of Madonna
above the cigar butts
and over the portal.
The ‘image-notes’ that I gleaned from these opening lines are as follows:
“water leaps → have attained → make world, achieve → wrecked for an error → palimpsest → moon, great darkness → canals, big footprint → unprepared youth have history burden → beauty over cigar butts → portal.”
It’s through these notes that I composed this rough draft:
the waters have
leapt into attainment:
as if there was
achieve wrecked for an
error: palimpsest.
the moon on the edge of
a
great
darkness, near the sun
the canals
in there big foot print
the unprepared youth
have the
burden of history,
beauty is above cigar butts.
this quiet portal
And here is my final appreciation of this work, in the completed section thereof, entitled Plate Glass,
Tarantula Canto:
→ →
tart and acidic
corrosion deluge over riverbanks
contained by lazuli roll over heedless grass blades ← ←
plates of glass:
the mooring land leapt tenses
soil as a mask
in the stomach pit gyre of ocean felt
heavy ropes stir in its image to float
on the force of hydrothermal vents
blush
down
miles far below lunar shine
along crisp edges of canals
thru abyssal plains
to deepest city )(libertatia)(at rest
pressure etches
pounds about the oceanic portal
and in law: white flag and no violation of the articles
mission not lit forever
clever stitchwork held long heals nothing
nor the poem