Yes to Amen

The great thing
is not having
a mind. Feelings:
oh, I have those; they
govern me. I have
a lord in heaven
called the sun, and open
for him, showing him
the fire of my own heart, fire
like his presence.
What could such glory be
if not a heart? Oh my brothers and sisters,
were you like me once, long ago,
before you were human? Did you
permit yourselves
to open once, who would never
open again? Because in truth
I am speaking now
the way you do. I speak
because I am shattered.

― Louise Glück, "The Red Poppy"

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Dear Kate

The American poet Louise Glück was just awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature "for her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal."

I wasn't thinking about writing today, but, as it is, for a reader, one of the most important days of the year, despite what one might feel about the Nobel Prize, even disdain, almost always in disagreement, I am permitting myself to "open again."

I have a little theory, which like all theories, is a little true, a little biased, a little too much to explain anything (away).  I think the Nobel Committee is responding to the bestselling Canadian poet Rupi Kaur being called "the Writer of the Decade."  I will let you tease this one out when you have a chance to read both.  You will see what I mean.

Glück's is not a "difficult" read.  They would have gone with Anne Carson if that's the counterpoint to prove.  They are not offering an antidote to populism, but a lethal dose of the real thing.  Instead of saying No to a generation that aims to "go viral" overnight and calls every logo identifiable by a three-year-old "iconic," the Committee said Yes to the resounding Amen of the human heart.

I watched a bit of the VP "debate" last night.  It wasn't a debate, because no one answered the questions and no one followed the rules.  To call it a debate is to say sentences broken into smartphone screen width make poetry.  It was demagoguery, as expected, but dirty as hell for being artless and soul-killingly boring.  I took a long bath right after.  Make America littler still.  Things were great once.

Yours, Alex