Wednesday, October 7, 2015

#279




“My whole year will be tense with love” is kind of a nice thought. So he’s off, finally, to Ireland, whence he will have “paused a little the war for bread / & the war for status had ceased.”

The war for status. I guess that’s about the size of it. The thing about war, firepower, and artillery, is that you have to have it if you’re going into battle, but you also have to be able to aim it, and you have to have a good idea of where to most effectively aim it. You haul artillery and caissons to the field (write the work), aim and fire it (submission), and know where to most effectively place the rounds (choosing the right publisher). It’s such a macho conception that it’s making my eyes water, but I suppose it’s a lesson.

No war for status in Ireland. A year there, tense with love and letters home, from the land of Yeats, Swift and Joyce. Those three placed their shots pretty effectively, though.

1 comment:

  1. This might be the most hopeful DS in a long time. I think he's being mostly honest in his self-depreciating 'if ever he had crafted....'

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