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Adalbert is a forum for me, to post ephemera, photography, poetry, occasional travel notes, and various spontaneous motions. Cover photo: Parsonage where my great-grandfather spent his early years. Taken near Liegnitz, Silesia, ca. 1870. The "xothique" portion of the web address is a nod to Clark Ashton Smith's fictional continent of Zothique.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

The Left Hand of Japhy Ryder


May 18 2010 I attended a talk by Ursula K. Le Guin, Gary Snyder, and Jerry Franklin, presenting their thoughts on (and some poems about) the Mt. St. Helens blast in 1980. First time I've seen Le Guin speak, third time for Snyder, second for Franklin. The woman who introduced the speakers (I didn't catch her name or position) seemed to irritate the California poet by associating him with Plato. Gary fired back by referring to Plato as the guy who would have excluded poets from his Republic (although I would qualify this aspect of The Republic with the redeeming parts such as the Cave Parable, the reincarnation panorama at the end, and so on).
Photo of the trio being awarded blankets, over the top of some guy's head.

There's a line in Cocteau's Orpheus, something like, "There's a riot at the poet's cafe," which would almost apply.

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