Wednesday, January 8, 2014

The Sawhorse of Oz

Well, I finally finished reading all of the words of "A" - 24, and I found it quite lovely.  The family unit of Louis, Celia, and Paul ring out from how Celia organized Louis's words to Handel's music and to each other.  The final fugue reminds me of Pound's desire to write a fugue in poetry.  I think Pound succeeded best in the passage:

"Some minds take pleasure in counterpoint
             pleasure in counterpoint"

The echo in the second line suggest polyphony.  I also think of the passage from Finnegans Wake "O, my back, my back, my bach!" (pg. 213).

I love how the final fugue "A" includes part of Zukofsky's famous poem about sawhorses.  During this read-through of "A" I became more aware of Zukofsky's love of horses and of how often they appear in the poem.  Reading this final fugue I also thought of the Sawhorse of Oz, which I'd never associated with Zukofsky before, linking one of my first literary loves with one of my latest.

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