LAMENTATIONS

by David Eide

Beautiful and ugly thoughts multiply and alternate out of the vices of the city. If I die with these simple arrangements of good thoughts the only thing to show, then I will be a failure. Would he be the object of his art he would fear disappearing and, then, re-appearing in front of solid citizens having to to justify himself. Am I not my greatest character? Is there not a danger in addressing this question?

Art, he believes, is the making of distinctive things. The distinctive thing is accompanied by a power that signifies that what is being made is absolutely unique and divine. Therefore it is something out and away from the artist that the power is revealed.

Theories make the poet impatient. Theories make the people of the city look like idiots. The impatience of the theories make him believe that he will create his own grand theory that will bedazzle the world. He would not sell his soul for the theory but he would sit under a small tree in his favorite park and meditate on the general but comprehensive view he has of the world and its people. Yes, he muses, if the poetry does not pan out I will get a following and lecture in the university towns. How many square miles did Christ use to transform the world? He begins to develop an axiom: He who effects the world travels in small but profound circles; the rest dissipate in large, looping ellipsis.

It is the rise of information, a river of glut through the lines of communication, that makes him the most impatient.