Interesting points, Frederick, although I don;t fully agree about the
boringness of mandalas (take a look at the installations by Josephoe --
Mandala work is in studio dalwood
http://www.acay.com.au/~severn/studio.htm
-- eg.
A long time ago, Samuel R. Delany, who read poetry all the time, made some
very suggestive connections between modern poetry & SF, especially in terms
of the kinds of language & imagery they use. In an essay with the wonderful
title, "About 5,750 Words': 'The vision (sense of wonder, if you will) that
s-f tries for seems to me very close to the vision of poetry, particularly
poetry as it concerned the nineteenth century Symbolists. No matter how
disciplined its creation, to move into the 'unreal' world demands a brush
with mysticism.'
I think your 4th point especially pertinent...
Doug
Douglas Barbour
Department of English
University of Alberta
Edmonton Alberta Canada T6G 2E5
(h) [780] 436 3320 (b) [780] 492 0521
http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/dbhome.htm
He saw the dark as a ragged garment
spread out to air.
Through its rents and moth-holes
the silver light came pouring.
Denise Levertov
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