Talk:Robert Lax

Untitled
"while others seem more like examples for use in meditative practice or even spiritual discipline. A good example of this abstract technique can be seen in the following untitled poem, first published in New Poems (1960)"

"while others seem" is a good choice of words. The quote above is an interpretation. Another interpretation, as valid as the one above, is that Lax in this particular and untitled poem (in the most open sense of the word - where any word on top of another makes a couplet) is drawing with words.

Strophes 1-2 and 5-6 are the left wings of the two birds with the middle-wing articulation (the space in between those strophes). "one bird / two birds" are sets of feathers that diminish towards the tip. Those strophes are the left wing because it is read from left to right and birds don't fly backwards. Strophes 3-4 and 7-8 are therefore the two right wings. The final "one" is almost an imperative. If we look again at the composition, facing all the strophes as one bird's wingspan, the «sets of feathers» are in the same order only that the wings are now larger. Strophes 1-4 would be the left wing, and obviously strophes 5-8 the right one, right? Let's meditate on that with our spirits.

António Dinis Lopes http://papitata.multiply.com

Robert Lax is an important poet with major publications from such notable presses as New Directions. He was associated with literary minimalism in the 1960's. This article should NOT BE deleted. Jesse Glass