Tag Archives: allusion

Catching the Allusion

First I came across a book with a long title: Oats, Peas, Beans & Barley Cookbook by Edyth Young Cottrell Which I later encountered as a song Oats, peas, beans, and barley grow, Oats, peas, beans, and barley grow, Can … Continue reading

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Adept

R. Bruce Elder The Body in Film Art Gallery of Ontario, 1989 On the “personal body” in the films of Andrew Noren The Adventures of the Exquisite Corpse but the presence of these allusions to historical works of art have … Continue reading

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Constant Constatation

I once commented on the structure of the grid in Garry Thomas Morse’s “Petroglyph” from Discovery Passages and so it is not perhaps surprising that my eye would be arrested by the mention of stones in an eddy off to … Continue reading

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Illusive Allusions

The intertextual is not merely interstitial. It sometimes runs interference. I like the central image in Rhea Tregebov “Vienna, November 1983” in no one we know and how it connects with the haunting mention at the close of the poem … Continue reading

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Waiting

A line from Tu Fu (translated by J.P. Seaton in Bright Moon Perching Bird) Wind, and dust, but no news comes. Reminds one of “Waiting for the Barbarians” by Cavafy. Not because of the wind. Not because of the dust. … Continue reading

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Wine and Bread

At first you have erotic flush, followed by lassitude but with a twist towards the celebration of the long-lived. A Decade When you came, you were like red wine      and honey, And the taste of you burnt my mouth      with … Continue reading

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Carafe: Clean & Shining

First the opening of the “Objects” section from Gertrude Stein Tender Buttons (1914). A CARAFE, THAT IS A BLIND GLASS. A kind in glass and a cousin, a spectacle and nothing strange a single hurt color and an arrangement in … Continue reading

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Mapping Echoes

Jay MillAr “Author Photos” False Maps for Other Creatures. a landscape is a line one understands and how one stands echoes for me bp nichol A / LAKE / A / LANE / A / LINE / A / LONE … Continue reading

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Theatre of Quotation and Gesture

But soft, the story starts anew. It is the last line of the last poem in Randall Mann’s Breakfast with Thom Gunn. And its somewhat Shakespearean tone befits the poem “Fictions” which it concludes for it combines a lullaby sentiment … Continue reading

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Great Beginnings

James Merrill Nights and Days “Violent Pastoral” In the short space of four lines Merrill paints a dynamic picture and sets the stage for bonding both creatures into a single arresting image. Against a thunderhead’s Blue marble, the eagle Mounts … Continue reading

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