Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Great Regulars: A typical [Jeffrey] Yang poem begins

with the title "Oarfish"; traces it to the abode of humans called Midgard in Norse myth; invokes the ourobouros, the serpent devouring its own tail in a symbol of infinity; quotes the 19th-century American artist Elihu Vedder, the Baroque religious scholar Sor Juana and Lawrence's poem "Fish"; glances at the Homeric word "oarismos" (roughly, "pillow talk"); and ends with guanine, a chemical that codes genetic information and also a substance found in fish scales.

from Karl Kirchwey: The New York Times: 'Poetry's Shadow'

~~~~~~~~~~~

No comments :