Viaticum: From Notebooks‘When does a thought become part of a poem and when does it become part of some other form of writing? ... You jot something down and watch to see how it leans.’ In Viaticum, Jeffery Donaldson presents selections from his notebooks that represent, as Wallace Stevens might say, ‘a readiness for first bells’. These proto-arguments and poetic seedlings—musings on the process of thought, the power of language, the passage of time and the promise of the afterlife—wait to see if ‘not yet’ might be ‘already something’. They offer glimpses inside the mind of a thoughtful poet, and provide readers with a spiritual conductor whose orchestral rehearsal culminates in no actual performance—‘only the sense that we are ready now’. |
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actually afterlife anamnesis Auden aura become believe bodhisattva book-burner brain bridge can’t cognitive course culture dead death dimensions dreamed earth echo-location Elizabeth Bishop embodies event horizon existential experience fact faith feel fictions grammatical happening Holy Holy idea identify ideological illusion imagine inside instant keep coming back kind language leap leave light living living mind look mathematician meaning messages metaphoric thinking mind move mystery naught non-places notebooks nothing-to-itself nothingness one’s ourselves painting past patience perspective phrase physical poem poet poetry possibility potential quantum physicists quote the wave Qur’an reality Red Deer relation religions ritual Rubik’s cube seems sense shamans simulated universes sitting someone soup speak Stevens story strange string theory stupidest synapses There’s thing whereto thought trying understand unfold vapours verbal formula viaticum waiting Wallace Stevens wave function formula window words writing zeitgeist