It Is Spring

In that progress of life which seems stillness itself in the mass of its movements—at last SPRING is approaching.

—William Carlos Williams, Chapter XIX, Spring and All (1923)

Mark Kerstetter, a fine poet himself and an incisive reader of the poetry of others, has embarked upon a series of posts offering thoughts and commentary on William Carlos Williams’ Spring and All. I’m only a little way in, but already entranced.

Faces in Profile

I recently had cause to think back to a trip to Florence, Italy, decades ago, and to Piero della Francesca’s “Diptych of Federico da Montefeltro and Battista Sforza” (c1465), which I had seen at the Uffizi Gallery. At the time, it was the fellow’s nose that caught my eye first. Not sure, way back then, I got far beyond that, other than remarking to myself on the effect of seeing the two facing off in profile.

July Miscellany, with music by Jaeger, Mattingly & Trapani & performances by Dhegrae & Contemporaneous

That’s Robert Louis Stevenson contemplating the proceedings, courtesy John Singer Sargent. The proceedings include, among other things, El café by Joaquín Torres-García and the Cabinet of Geology and Mineralogy from the announcement of a project by Mark Dion at Vassar College.