An old favorite today, a poem I turn to for solace on days I want to disappear. It gives me some small hope that transformation is possible instead.

WORK

“The Jewel”

There is this cave
In the air behind my body
That nobody is going to touch:
A cloister, a silence
Closing around a blossom of fire.
When I stand upright in the wind,
My bones turn to dark emeralds.

—James Wright (from The Branch Will Not Break)

WORD

anacoluthon /an-uh-kuh-LOO-thon/. noun. A grammatically inconsistent deviation, interruption or abrupt change in a sentence. Sometimes deliberate, for rhetorical effect, sometimes accidental. AKA a syntactic blend. For example, Shakespeare famously used the technique to convey King Lear’s frantic, undecided state of mind:

“I will have such revenges on you both,
That all the world shall—I will do such things,
What they are, yet I know not.”
—(Shakespeare, from King Lear)

Or this from Sarah Palin in a vice-presidential debate (I leave it to you to decide intentionality, with the note that anacoluthia is common in speech):

“John McCain’s maverick position that he’s in, that’s really prompt up to and indicated by the supporters that he has.”

Finally, an actual example of the word itself in use:

“The style is of the rudest character…abrupt, disconnected, obscure and full of anacoluthons.” (H. Sweet)

WEB

1. Plastic bags keep appearing in my virtual travels. It must be some kind of sign. Alaine Delorme uses images of plastic bags to create digital “murmurations” of not-quite-starlings. Meanwhile, Vilde Rolfsen gets up close and discovers strangely natural-looking landscapes. Not to be outdone, Mark Harless takes pictures of (mostly naked) people in plastic bags, creating images that will haunt my dreams for a while.

2. The story of the survivors of the 2010 Chilean mine disaster is amazing. How did any of them retain even an infinitesimal amount of hope?

3. The Poetry Archive has relaunched. Many great recordings covering a relatively broad range of poetry. A good time to consider the classic question (does poetry matter?) with a diptych: Logan says no one buys it but it doesn’t matter McWhorter says we love poetry more than ever, it’s just called “rap”.

4. “What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness.” George Saunders joins the (small) cadre of graduation speakers who actually say something worth listening to. For that reason—not to mention Sauders’ theme—I’d be remiss not to include David Foster Wallace’s Kenyon College commencement speech.

5. Today in 1911, physicist John Archibald Wheeler, who coined the term “black hole” was born. And astronomers just discovered a triple monster black hole. Then read Zachary Schomburg’s prose poem “The Black Hole”. Or watch the “poem film” version of the same.

REPRISES/RESPONSES/REJOINDERS/RIPOSTES

• Multiple readers noted the typo in my description of Walcott’s poem yesterday (“the strange that is us”). ’Tis true: my error slants the description in a rather different direction.

• Reader V., knowing my predilections, asks why I have yet to share any portmanteaus (not as in the valise, but telescope-words, hybrid words and other such neologisms)? Fear not, word nerd, such linguistically sacrilicious words shall make many future appearances here. As will words I just think sound beautiful, even if not particularly obscure.

As always, I welcome comments, suggestions, thoughts, feedback and all manner of what-have-you. Just press ‘Reply’ or email to: clippings@katexic.com.

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