On Wed, 12 Jul 2000 07:24:48 -0700 (PDT)
"Scott Hamilton <[log in to unmask]>wrote:
>Since we're sort of talking about Stevens here, can
>I ask people to name their favourite Stevens poem? I
>have always wondered if the famous anthology pieces
>are as beloved as people make out. I nominate a
>slightly more 'obscure' thing, 'Like Decorations In A
>Nigger Cemetery'from Ideas of Order. Any seconders?
Stevens was one of the first major American poets I ever read, as a
student, and I find extraordinary things in him still. Currently I'd say
my favourite was "The Man on the Dump", which I love for its hornery,
awkward aesthetics - "One sits and beats an old tin can, lard pail./ One
beats and beats for that which one believes. / That's what one wants to
get near." - and for that audacious ending: "Where was it one first
heard of the truth? The the."
Dave Lovely
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