VERGE Poetry Seminar 2004-01-26T18:48:10Z The VERGE Poetry Seminar is a blog for the discussion and dissemination of poetry and ideas about poetry. tag:www.epiphanus.net,2004:/mt//1 Movable Type Copyright (c) 2004, daleth "The Black Swan" by James Merrill 2004-01-26T18:48:10Z 2004-01-26T13:48:10-05:00 tag:www.epiphanus.net,2004:/mt//1.3 2004-01-26T18:48:10Z The Black Swan By James Merrill Published 1951 in “First Poems” Black on flat water past the jonquil lawns Riding, the black swan draws A private chaos warbling in its wake, Assuming, like a fourth dimension, splendor That calls the... daleth www.epiphanus.net daleth@ufl.edu Poem The Black Swan
By James Merrill
Published 1951 in “First Poems”

Black on flat water past the jonquil lawns
Riding, the black swan draws
A private chaos warbling in its wake,
Assuming, like a fourth dimension, splendor
That calls the child with white ideas of swans
Nearer to that green lake
Where every paradox means wonder.

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]]> Although the black neck arches not unlike
A question mark on the lake,
The swan outlaws all easy questioning:
A thing in itself, equivocal, foreknown,
Like pain, or women singing as we wake;
And the swan song it sings
Is the huge silence of the swan.

Illusion: the black swan knows how to break
Through expectation, beak
Aimed now at its own breast, now at its image,
And move across our lives, if the lake is life,
And by the gentlest turning of its neck
Transform, in time, time’s damage;
To less than a black plume, time’s grief.

Enchanter: the black swan has learned to enter
Sorrow’s lost secret center
Where, like a May fête, separate tragedies
Are wound in ribbons round the pole to share
A hollowness, a marrow of pure winter
That does not change but is
Always brilliant ice and air.

Always the black swan moves on the lake. Always
The moment comes to gaze
As the tall emblem pivots and rides out
To the opposite side, always. The blond child on
The bank, hands full of difficult marvels, stays
Now in bliss, now in doubt.
His lips move: I love the black swan.

]]> Inauguration Post! 2004-01-26T15:13:27Z 2004-01-26T10:13:27-05:00 tag:www.epiphanus.net,2004:/mt//1.1 2004-01-26T15:13:27Z Hey everybody! After several unsuccessful attempts to install the "Serendipity" blog I realized that "Movable Type" was far better in countless ways, and installation took probably a half-hour or less. So let's break out the champagne, prosecco and hors d'oeurves... daleth www.epiphanus.net daleth@ufl.edu Comment Hey everybody! After several unsuccessful attempts to install the "Serendipity" blog I realized that "Movable Type" was far better in countless ways, and installation took probably a half-hour or less. So let's break out the champagne, prosecco and hors d'oeurves and inaugurate this mother!

Since I really have no idea how this will really work, it will be a learning experience for all involved. Movable Type allows for multiple users, so theoretically everyone involved will have an account on this blog, and thus can post Poems, Essays, Comments and everything else on their own account.

What I'm not sure yet is how the discussion might be divided between actual posts and comments on posts. I guess in the end it's most intuitive to just post a poem and then have the discussion take place inside the comments. Initially I was wary of this approach because I wanted the discussion to be on the "front page," but really this makes the most sense on further reflection, mainly thanks to the hierarchical structure of the comment system.

So, I will give it the first shot with James Merrill's "The Black Swan" and post a starting comment on why I like it, what I think it has to offer as a poem, and how and why it works well. I'm pretty excited about this project, and thanks in advance to all who participate!!!

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