Comments for Tangled Rope

Comment on Orr on the Perils of “Quoting Verse” by Bill Knott

Bill Knott — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 17:30:32 +0000

Stephen Dobyns’ new book of essays, “Next Word, Better Word” quotes three poems of mine in their entirety. Cost: zero. I own the rights to all my work, and I allow anybody everybody to reprint it for no fee. Free.

Comment on Poem: Eve of the Empty Apocalypse by admin

admin — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 22:17:23 +0000

Give it over. Oh, will I approximate! If anything, I’m good at approximating.

And forgive the post-hoc editing of the previous comment.

Comment on Poem: Eve of the Empty Apocalypse by Chris Lott

Chris Lott — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 22:00:25 +0000

If I can dig it up, I will share my Philosophy undergrad thesis on the misappropriation of scientific metaphor and analogy in poetry and fiction. You may be the only person on the planet that could approximate enjoying it!

Comment on Poem: Eve of the Empty Apocalypse by Jared

Jared — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 21:55:48 +0000

Thank you for the reassurance. I sometimes over-analyze things, fretting over the possibility that someone more learned will overturn my haphazardly arranged applecart. I’m still consistently surprised when that doesn’t happen.

Re. the hesitancy/uncertainty itself, first, I think a lot of folks simply familiar with the famous thought experiment may be led to believe it supports or even “proves” a many-worlds hypothesis, without regarding other possibilities. I didn’t want to infer that Schrodinger himself believed this to be the only conclusion by necessity, and in fact I have (somehow, from somewhere) the idea that Schrodinger may have contested such interpretations as missing the point, and, obviously, when I wrote this I didn’t take the time to follow-through on the question. In the end, I wanted to suggest the paradox, but also suggest a kind of irony of decoherence, and the absurdity of spousal arguments relative to other very personal, even existential challenges.

Comment on Poem: Eve of the Empty Apocalypse by Chris Lott

Chris Lott — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 21:47:18 +0000

Wait… didn’t endorse *which* conclusion. Schrodinger certainly thought enough of his conclusions that he felt it refuted the Copenhagen Interpretation. But I would go with Schrodinger just for the reasons of sound and because it will give many more readers a clue. If I hadn’t spent many hours reading lay physics books and too many days researching the (mis)application of scientific hypotheses as metaphors, I would have NO idea who Everett was.

Comment on Michael Johnson’s “How to be Eaten by a Lion” by admin

admin — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 23:59:20 +0000

Very interesting. I’m going to read it again in light of your suggested interpretation.

Thanks!

Comment on Michael Johnson’s “How to be Eaten by a Lion” by Ashutosh Bhuradia

Ashutosh Bhuradia — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 01:53:43 +0000

My apologies for the typos.

Comment on Michael Johnson’s “How to be Eaten by a Lion” by Ashutosh Bhuradia

Ashutosh Bhuradia — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 01:51:03 +0000

I stumbled upon your site while googling “How to be Eaten by a Lion”. You’re interpretation of the poem gives the piece and interesting dimension. Though I’d a different opinion altogether. I agree with your assessment of the poem’s clear, sharp imagery, the “darkly humorous” tone, but I understood it as a love poem (harking back to Romanticism, as it echoed idea of beauty and death.) What struck me about Johnson’s poem was how he transformed something so inherently terrifying, and brutal, into a thing of beauty.

Comment on Poem: Draft: Go West by admin

admin — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 17:48:18 +0000

The two images I personally like best (the mountain of time and the rooting coffee cup) don’t live up to their potential, so I may start this one over.

Comment on BAP 2010 by Chris Lott

Chris Lott — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 05:34:49 +0000

Excellent! I’ll write about a few of the poems if you do…