To Weave, To Fabricate

We’re talking about Auden

when I mention Ben Lerner

and how he makes a claim

about best enjoying poems

that are quoted in prefaces

and introductions of books.

Dad agrees, it is when lines

of a poem are taken out of

context and set aside other

words, sentiments, decades

that it’s most meaningfully

received, with air to ignite.

I mention Gerald Murnane

and how he claims to only

recall where he was sitting

in the world reading a book

when he later tries to note

any plot or character from it.

It is not the contents of the

book that we take with us on

our travels, but instead it is

the descending light on the

paneled glass by which some

author submits their weight.

The art that works is the art

that fails, because intentions

are arrows that hit when they

miss - it is the accidents that

resonate with us because the

human element is subtracted,

the revelation is in the breach.

Perhaps a twist on that line of

Wilde’s that dads quotes to me

‘when the gods want to punish

you they answer your prayers’

(said the author to the reader).