Believe Wilson did a biography of Crowley as well.
Really enjoying your Selected Workings, 2017-2022... Rich, fascinating stuff.
re: poetry and posterity... I’ve been making notes from a novel called The Anthologist by Nicholson Baker about a fictional failed poet. Some great lines:
What is poetry? Poetry is prose in slow motion. p1
My life is a lie. My career is a joke. I’m a study in failure. p2
Here’s the thing. I am basically willing to do anything to come up with a really good poem. I want to do that. That’s my goal in life. And it hasn’t happened. I’ve waited patiently. Sometimes I’ve waited impatiently. Sometimes I’ve “striven.” I’ve made some acceptable poems – poems that have been accepted in a literal sense. But not one single really good poem. p23
Poetry is a controlled refinement of sobbing…. The rhyming of rhymes is a powerful form of self medication…
Writing letters and then waiting for the response keeps us in suspense… p55
Reading our poems. Our little moment. Physical presence. In the same room with. A community. Forget it. t’s a joke. P101
…but then you open a book to a certain page, and read [. } and you see why it’s all necessary, the whole enterprise… my life is necessary because sustain the idea of poetry through thick and thin. That’s my job.
What does it mean to be a great poet? It means that you wrote one or two great poems. Or great parts of poems. That’s all it means. Don’t try to picture the waste, or it will alarm you… p101
Thanks Mark! Love all those note from the book. A bonus post in itself! I've not read Wilson's biography, though I do rate his 'Occult' book. Thanks for the link, I'll check it out. And I'm delighted you're enjoying the Selected Workings, really appreciate you getting a copy.
As ever, Tom, a generous, enriching post with lots to ponder and nod in agreement with.
New poem is great and I love the Cecil Day-Lewis quote.
re: Crowley... did you ever read Colin Wilson's 'version' of him in the The Sex Diary of Gerard Sorme?
https://www.colinwilsonworld.net/gerard-sorme
Believe Wilson did a biography of Crowley as well.
Really enjoying your Selected Workings, 2017-2022... Rich, fascinating stuff.
re: poetry and posterity... I’ve been making notes from a novel called The Anthologist by Nicholson Baker about a fictional failed poet. Some great lines:
What is poetry? Poetry is prose in slow motion. p1
My life is a lie. My career is a joke. I’m a study in failure. p2
Here’s the thing. I am basically willing to do anything to come up with a really good poem. I want to do that. That’s my goal in life. And it hasn’t happened. I’ve waited patiently. Sometimes I’ve waited impatiently. Sometimes I’ve “striven.” I’ve made some acceptable poems – poems that have been accepted in a literal sense. But not one single really good poem. p23
Poetry is a controlled refinement of sobbing…. The rhyming of rhymes is a powerful form of self medication…
Writing letters and then waiting for the response keeps us in suspense… p55
Reading our poems. Our little moment. Physical presence. In the same room with. A community. Forget it. t’s a joke. P101
…but then you open a book to a certain page, and read [. } and you see why it’s all necessary, the whole enterprise… my life is necessary because sustain the idea of poetry through thick and thin. That’s my job.
What does it mean to be a great poet? It means that you wrote one or two great poems. Or great parts of poems. That’s all it means. Don’t try to picture the waste, or it will alarm you… p101
Best wishes...
Thanks Mark! Love all those note from the book. A bonus post in itself! I've not read Wilson's biography, though I do rate his 'Occult' book. Thanks for the link, I'll check it out. And I'm delighted you're enjoying the Selected Workings, really appreciate you getting a copy.
A beautiful poem and some great thoughts on writing, many that resonated. Thank you.
Thank you so much for reading. 🙏