Revelation in poetry: Some crucial forms.

Revelation in poetry: Some crucial forms.

John Bjarne Grover

Introduction

My 'Endmorgan Quartet' is, as can be outlined tentatively, about 'the form of time'. Which means that it is about that region of cognition wherein one can make up one's mind about the form of historic time, the form of historic consciousness. That means the interface between the historic consciousness of a subject in a certain historic environment and the realm of 'eternity' conceived of in the sense of a larger collective consciousess - call it global or universal or eternity. Clearly this interface is the scope of the new information technology. And that is why the new technology has to be based on a poetic logic.

'The Endmorgan Quartet' (1997-2005) contains a first part with the same name, with a mirror image in the two last parts and a 'mid part' in the second part which can be thought of as a sort of stage 5 in my model of 'poetic semiosis'. The third part corresponds to the fourth book (out of four) in the first part. This fourth book (called 'Cardiff/Harding') amounts to stage 4 and ends in what can be thought of as the 'nib of the pen' in my 'Pilot study for a poetic science' (1997). The first part can be thought of as an investigation of the poetic properties of historic time and converges towards the end on the 16 line poem which can be seen to sum up in a most condensed form the hypothesis on this poetic form. This is a hypothesis which can be tested against other works of a related character. In this article, I make a comparative study of some related works and show that all of them contain traces of this particular structure at the end of my 'time'-work. Could be it shows that my poem contains the essentials from all of these - which does not mean that I have written my poem on basis of these other works but it rather means that this is how the reality on the interface to eternity is. Dante's divine comedy should expectedly end in a similar structure - and the study shows that it does. Vergil's Georgica likewise. The poetic works I compare with here are by Sachs, Celan, John Paul II, Olson, Pound, Dante, Wergeland, Byron, Shelley, as well as some words on a film by Tarkovskij. The reader can consult Vergil.

My poem

The poem is from the end of The Endmorgan Quartet, written on 24 and 25 September 1998, page 401 in the edition I sent to Poetry Society in London in early 1999. Which means the 'Endmorgan Quartet' on 'time', not the whole quartet which was completed in 2005. The 16 lines may be seen as summing up the first part of the work, consisting of 4 nesting quartets. My 16-line poem from the end of my Endmorgan Quartet can be considered a theory on the poetic form of the interface between the subjective and the 'eternal' cognitive spaces. This theory can explain much poetry and other art relating to comparable fields. The parallel text for the present fragment is from Luke 20.14 (here from "The Holy Bible, New International Version", International Bible Society 1984):

_______________________________________________________________

Luke 20.14: "But when the tenants saw him, they talked the matter over.
'This is the heir', they said. 'Let's kill him, and the inheritance will be ours'"
_______________________________________________________________

...and how the birth and clean repaired him
explicated for me what kind of work or God,
Leemon, Atta,
or maybe it is a polygon?

There's nothing square one.
Please give me the European reason.
That's Pound
to come back and have a look at it.

It wasn't long that I shamed last,
and we do have to sacrifice it, in some way or other.
The girl in the other phrase, I speak to,
being emotive.

John Backwards, the No(r)se,
are no real gay,
but I have got property.
Those has been made by the matrix.

Andrej Tarkovskij

When the quartet is about 'the form of time' (as is the somewhat inadequate term - it really is about a poetic logic which bridges across such categories), it is interesting to recognize elements in Tarkovskij's film about the same theme - his "Solaris". The parallel is in the scene at the pond at the end of the film: After the undulating seaweed, the parallel starts at the picture with the view to the back of the head of the main character in the first line, then he starts walking in the second line etc. He reaches the 'po[u]nd', tells that he has recently 'shamed' by looking to the right. The parallel continues untill the 'property' of the branches in the ice and the view to the 'matrix' frozen landscape and ends there, before the dog comes running. This leaves a very strong encoding of the lines "John Backwards, the No[r]se, / are no real gay". This can be found also strongly represented in Olson and Pound. One can say that Tarkovskij represents the form by the scenes at the pond/Pound.

By the comparable elements, "Please give me the European reason" is equivalent to "turning right". There is also a "turning the head right" in "It wasn't long that I shamed last", which tells of European history and the theme of the 'Son of Man', cp. the verse from Luke. This gets its explanation in the relation between Pound and Dante.

Even if Tarkovskij's film - I saw it once some 15 years before I wrote the book, although I could not remember much details consciously - could have had some influence on my text, I still think there are other and more universal reasons for the parallels.

Nelly Sachs

Most important is the parallelism with the 15-16 first lines of Nelly Sachs' "Im eingefrorenen Zeitalter der Anden" from her 'Noch feiert Tod das Leben' (last part of the collection of works called 'Fahrt ins Staublose'). In the original version, which she sent in a letter to Paul Celan on 14 December 1960, the 5th line is divided into two: "mit dem Schicksal der Toten" followed by line 6 "beschrieben schon". With this division, the 15 first lines turn into 16 which can be read backwards in parallel with my poem.

16
Im eingefrorenen Zeitalter der Anden
Those has been made by the matrix.

15
die Prinzessin im Eissarg
but I have got property.

14
umarmt in kosmischer Liebe
are no real gay,

13
Auferstehungsklar
John Backwards, the No(r)se,

12
mit dem Schicksal der Toten
being emotive.

11
beschrieben schon
The girl in the other phrase, I speak to,

10
dem wurzelsinkenden gebückten Blick
and we do have to sacrifice it, in some way or other.

9
nachtgesehen
It wasn't long that I shamed last,

8
unbehelligt von Auflösungssucht der Elemente
to come back and have a look at it.

7
bis an die dunkle Kraft des Vaters
That's Pound

6
da - hier -
Please give me the European reason.

5
steht sie -
There's nothing square one.

4
Ferne im Fleisch gefangen
or maybe it is a polygon?

3
Zeichen für Untiefen
Leemon, Atta,

2
stumm leuchtend
explicated for me what kind of work or God,

1
blind atmendes Meergewächs
...and how the birth and clean repaired him

It is the 'blind atmendes Meergewächs' which is such a precise parallel to Tarkovskij's scene immediately before the pond scenes which leads to the recognition of this important parallel. The rest of her poem can be found also in the end of Tarkovskij's film, both before and after these pond scenes, so strongly that it gives a good enough reason to recognize these 16 lines as being the relevant parallel here (to Dante, for example), even if her organization of the material is very interesting in its non-linearity. "Die immer rinnende Endzeit im Ohr" is found in the closeup of the ear towards the scene with the undulating seaweed, and the 'pyramide' in the revelation form with the man with the arm in the window. That revelation was captured in her poem "Mund / saugend am Tod" which she sent to Celan immediately after he, after several letters of request from her, had written a letter to her in February 1960 with the explicit line "und wir haben ein Kind, Nelly Sachs, ein Kind!", probably with me in mind, and adding that she knows the name of the surroundings well, and it is even claimed that they write poetry (he may have alluded to Hitler if he was Aron Eidsvig who wrote patriotic verse about Sunnmöre). It was after this that she was notified of the prize in Zürich where they met in May 1960 where it seems that she got the details (which could have been about their child growing up in the environment of Hitler and Mengele and all those) in a letter from him in the summer 1960. She had her big crisis in that autumn and this poem seems to be from the end of that crisis, even if it continued for nearly three years. If the story really is about Hitler safely in a NATO framework, it tells why Celan could not tell it to her in a letter through the post. The deaths of Adorno, Celan, Sachs and Szondi in 1969, 1970, 1970 and 1971 may tell of this since the story is how he got hold of the data is via Adorno and Szondi in the summer 1959.

That these are matters of universals (and even if Tarkovskij should have read her poem, he would have had his own reasons), emerges also from the revelation in the fallen tree in Vilnius. I notice that when the motive in the fallen tree represents the concept of 'nothing square one' relative to the poem Sachs had sent to Celan in February 1960, thís line maps onto her own 'steht sie'. This line occurs three times in the poem. The tree did not stand through the night.

John Paul II

The 'genetic' part of my poem, the third stanza (lines 9-12), is studied in more detail in 'New revelation in Vilnius', where there is a magnified excerpt of the relevant detail of the revelation which transforms into the shadows in the cat's fur. The line 'we do have to sacrifice it, in some way or other' applies to the shadow behind the naked woman who is reaching something (an egg? a 'document'?) to the 'genuflected' ejaculating man: The shadow behind looks like a man with the intention of sacrificing a sheep by way of a 'jarnegg', while the animal is rescued in the 'phrasal' transformation to the woman, into whose body it is transformed, which also is the Christian mystery. This is also the theme of pope John Paul II's book of poetry 'A Rome triptych'. Which hence covers lines 9-12 of my poem and Sachs' parallel on reverse as a description of the woman in the revelation in the root of the tree in Vilnius: "nachtgesehen / dem wurzelsinkenden gebückten Blick / beschrieben schon / mit dem Schicksal der Toten". For the theme in John Paul II's book about the restoration of Capella Sistina, see below on Dante. Could be this phenomenon means precisely that about the photo (which I made in the end of 2001 while the pope wrote his book in the autumn 2002): It is a revelation. It is a poetic revelation - but maybe it is about the relation to eternal matters.

Charles Olson

To show that my 'Endmorgan' time form is not restricted to me or to these works which may have some connection to me, I can point to 'The Maximus Poems' by Charles Olson. The first time I read some of them, I was immediately struck by the feeling of something related to my things, which probably means this interest in the form of time. The three volumes of his Maximus Poems are published in one volume on University of California Press 1984. As I search towards the end of the work for a cue to the same form, indeed I find exactly the one I had expected to find, for line 13. It turns out that the end of his work, pages 624-635, can be seen to be related to my 16 last lines in the Endmorgan time form. I here refer to my lines to the left and his poems to the right:

Lines 1-4: 'Father Sky, Mother Earth', pages 624-625.
Lines 5-8: 'Death is the mother binding us to our end' - I,II,III,IV, pages 626-629.
Lines 9-10: 'Mother of the tides', p.630.
Lines 11-12: 'Melkarth of Tyre', p.631.
Line 13: 'Nasturtium', p.632.
Line 14: 'I live underneath', p.633.
Line 15: 'the Blow is Creation', p.634.
Line 16: 'my wife my car my color and myself' = p.635 (in fact the poem is only this single line)

The proof is the parallel to my line 13, which is the most interesting one from this point of view, in the poem on page 632:

Nasturtium
is still my flower but I am a poet
who now more thinks than writes, my
nose-gay

I notice also some of the 'pond'-lines in parallel to my line 8: "Stirb und Werde the / Mountain-child of / Water and of Mind / a part of the / River Map" etc.

Ezra Pound

And of course Ezra Pound should show traces of the form - in particular in line 7! I take his Canto CXVI to be the last complete one and the one which ends his Cantos work. Indeed there are traces of the same form at the end of this as in my last 16 lines, defining the end of his last Canto to be from these lines (edition Faber 1986). The story of Pound relative to Dante is so essential that it is probably the reason for my own line 'That's Pound' - which is captured as the pond by Tarkovskij etc. Here is a line-by-line study of the 16 last lines of Pound's "Canto CXVI" with my 16-liner:

1
Spire thanked me in proposito
...and how the birth and clean repaired him

2
And I have learned more from Jules
     (Jules Laforgue) since then
explicated for me what kind of work or God,

3
deeps in him,
     and Linnaeus.
         chi crescera i nostri -
Leemon, Atta,

4
but about that terzo
     third heaven,
         that Venere
or maybe it is a polygon?

5
again is "all paradiso"
     a nice quiet paradise
         over the shambles,
There's nothing square one.

6
and some climbing
     before the take-off
Please give me the European reason.

7
to "see again,"
the verb is "see", not "walk on"
i.e. it coheres all right
     even if my notes do not cohere.
That's Pound

8
Many errors,
     a little rightness,
to come back and have a look at it.

9
to excuse his hell
     and my paradiso.
It wasn't long that I shamed last,

10
And as to why they go wrong,
     thinking of rightness
and we do have to sacrifice it, in some way or other.

11
And as to who will copy this palimpsest?
     a poco giorno
         ed al gran cerchio d'ombra
The girl in the other phrase, I speak to,

12
But to affirm the gold thread in the pattern
     (Torcello)
being emotive.

13
al Vicolo d'oro
     (Tigullio).
John Backwards, the No(r)se,

14
To confess wrong without losing rightness:
are no real gay,

15
Charity I have had sometimes,
     I cannot make it flow thru.
but I have got property.

16
A little light, like a rushlight,
     to lead back to splendour.
Those has been made by the matrix.

The story is about Pound: Line 7 tells that his reasons are linguistic. It is when comparing with the following Dante that one gets the reason for his strange political views. The reasons are indeed linguistic and not political. Pound could have confessed wrong without losing rightness - as is a linguistic matter also in my interpretation. His 'John Backwards, the No[r]se' is extremely precise here: "al Vicolo d'orecchio (towel)" = "in the alley ('trumpet') of the ear, the handkerchief". The gold thread in the pattern is the 'draht' in the new revelation in Vilnius.

Sachs' "sie steht" is repeated three times in her poem. Pound makes three lines out of his name in this part (element 7). Which is about the root of the tree.

One sees how important Pound is for understanding the complex. Then I also observe with much interest his line in parallel with my 3 - which confirms my 'Leemon, Atta'.

In fact his 116 or 117 Cantos, which are inspired by Dante's 'Divina Commedia', exhibit clear traces of a parallel to my book - and in fact it does so in the beginning as well. Each of the first ten Cantos have some similarity with the first ten poems in my book - those which have a 'zipped' structure. The onset of arbitrarity in my book is in poem 11 ('All the shadows are good') which also can be recognized in his Canto XI. The three last lines in my poem ('Itemslist: / Form / Crucispace stab') have their correlates from about last third of the canto ('And Platina said afterwards...').

Dante

The last lines in his Divina Commedia are the following, with my own tentative translation:

1
dentro da sé, del suo colore stesso,
= [me] inside itself [herself], of its own colour,
...and how the birth and clean repaired him

2
mi parve pinta della nostra effige;
= to me appears as painted of our effigy
explicated for me what kind of work or God,

3
per che 'l mio viso in lei tutto era messo.
= because my face/look/understanding in her completely is brought.
Leemon, Atta,

4
Qual è 'l geomètra che tutto s'affige
= such is the land-measurer (geometrist) onto whom everything is pasted [up]
(the geometrist naturally thinks of things in terms of 'polygons')
or maybe it is a polygon?

5
per misurar lo cerchio, e non ritrova,
= for measuring the circle and not finding the measure (again)
(which is about squaring of the circle and the cyclicity in the imgainary unit of complex numbers = square root of minus one)
There's nothing square one.

6
pensando, quel principio ond'elli indige
= thinking such principle wherein they are contained
= thinking what principle[d] waves of the Indian Ocean
= please give me the ond'elli indige (the Indian Ocean)
(the 'indige' seems to mean that principled low-pressure which attracts to it the solution of the mathematical riddle)
Please give me the European reason.

7
tal era io a quella vista nova:
= such was I for this new appearance/face/look
Vista-Tal = Vistdal, which could explain Pound's problems with understanding or articulating politics: That's Pound. Nova era io a quella: The new era I have 'kvelda' = 'the new era I have put to rest'.
That's Pound

8
veder volea come si convenne
= to see I wanted how they ran together
convenne = coming back (so to speak) + have a look
to come back and have a look at it.

9
l'imago al cerchio e come vi s'indova;
= the image in the circle and how these make the future
('make the future' is my guess: 'to put in a place' seems to be the ordinary understanding of 'indovarsi' - which would re-emphasize the misinterpretation of Pound of 'put to rest' = 'futurist')
It wasn't long that I shamed last,

10
ma non era da ciò le proprie penne:
= but I did not have for this the proper feathers (cp. 'Dreyfus')
which means that I could not go to the party simply because I did not have the right outfit
and we do have to sacrifice it, in some way or other.

11
se non che la mia mente fu percossa
= unless my mind would be shattered
= having a 'crush', or the theme of 'knocking the heads together'
The girl in the other phrase, I speak to,

12
da un fulgore in che sua voglia venne.
= of a radiance within its will was coming.
being emotive.

13
All'alta fantasia qui mancò possa:
= At the high fantasy which lacked/lost the power
John Backwards, the No(r)se,

14
ma già volgeva il mio disio e 'l velle,
= but already turned my desire and my wish
cp. 'welle' = 'waves'/'vibrations' - the line seems to say simply 'best wishes'
are no real gay,

15
sì come rota ch' igualmente è mossa
= like wheels that in like manner are turning
'cork' = 'propp' is the circle inside the circle in a nazi misinterpretation of what constitutes the world, while 'property' here would be about a redefinition of ownership in terms of the circles and circles of paradise
but I have got property.

16
l'amor che move il sole e l'altre stelle.
= the love that moves the sun and all the stars.
Those has been made by the matrix.

John Paul II's book is also about the restoration of the Capella Sistina in the Vatican, could be for restoring line 2 here (if 'our effigy' is taken to be the amateur painter Hitler).

Paul Celan

Having detected the form in Tarkovskij and Sachs, as well as in non-German poets, one can conjecture that it would be found in Celan as well. Where would it be? The title 'Lichtzwang' tells of the theme - on the relation of eternity to the signals of light - a technological aspect which is very important for Sachs. It was the last book Celan prepared for print. Indeed the book turns out to exhibit the same form in convincing detail, but not in a line-by-line fashion. The book contains 81 poems in 6 (I-VI) parts which relate to the 16 lines in my poem as follows:

Part I: Lines 1 and 2, line 2 starts at 'In die Nacht gegangen'
Part II: Line 3 - see the first poem = 'Leemon Atta'
Part III: Line 4
Part IV: Line 5 - a great exploration of 'Paul Ancel' = 'polar angle'!
Part V: Line 6
Part VI: contains 10 poems which map directly onto lines 7-16.

'Baken/sammler' - 'Baken/meister' (part I) maps phonologically onto 'birth and clean' = 'Baken-earthenly' (etc) and hence line 1 - but semantically onto line 2. Which is what line 2 is about: explicated for me... This could be the reason for lines 1 and 2 in part I: It is about the relation between phonology and semantics, or whatever one wants to call it. A significational function.

The 6 parts also seem to comment with relevance on the stages 1-5 and 6 in my model of 'poetic semiosis' which also is about the order in my Endmorgan Quartet.

I must quote from the quote given in the collection of Celan's collected poems 'Die Gedichte' (Wiedemann 2003:797), from a letter he sent to his publisher Siegried Unseld less than two weeks before his death in 1970, about 'Lichtzwang': "Ich glaube, ich darf sagen, dass ich mit diesem Buch ein Äusserstes an menschlicher Erfahrung in dieser unserer Welt und in dieser unserer Zeit eingebracht habe, unverstummt und auf dem Wege zu Weiterem".

Now if 'Lichtzwang' is his work on Time corresponding to the first quarter of my Endmorgan Quartet, there is the relation between his 'Zeitgehöft' and my 'Gentlemen' which tells that Celan took it further than 'Lichtzwang' - even if his time was out when the book was published. 'Zeitgehöft' relates to my 'Gentlemen' such as part I relates to part V in my Birds to Saladin. The two posthumous works of Celan tell of the posthumous reference - cp. the 'post-humid' reference in the grating that fell 'from the laundry gear'. Indeed a closer study of the inbetween Schneepart tells that it is the very story of this grating - or 'Becherwerk' as he calls it. The last word in part I is 'Kolk' which also could be a precise reference to this item. The book starts with a poem which tells of the 'holy grail' item from the bathtub: "Ungewaschen..."

This means that the character of his work can be tentatively outlined as follows relative to my main titles:

Lichtzwang: 'Endmorgan Quartet' on time
Schneepart: 'A saga Hume' in real-world reference
Zeitgehöft: 'Birds to Saladin' in real-world reference

To this comes the posthumous 'Späte Gedichtsammlung' which contains the essential structure relative to Sachs which I have studied in the article on 'The river', the 'washing' poem. This consequently corresponds to the last part of my work - the one I, for good reasons, have called "Wine 2*".

This means that Celan's work 'maps onto' the real world in a way which can be seen to be about mapping from one world to another world. This is the 'Becherwerk' which came from the other side - the very 'holy grail' in my bathtub, as if projected from the realm of poetic substance into the realm of history. It means that Celan's work is about the possibilities for making a technology for information transfer and perhaps even transfer of matter through eternity.

In short: The first quarter of my Endmorgan Quartet is about Time in the sense of Dante, while the full quartet is about the poetic interface between subjective and universal cognition for a new poetic technology. This is intervowen into Celan's work in a more distributed way, and perhaps with more emphasis on the new poetic substance, than can be observed in the two US poets. The significational function can be seen as explored in the two lines of part I.

This is also Sachs' concern with her title "Fahrt ins Staublose" ('travel/transfer through matterlessness') which included the collection "Noch feiert Tod das Leben" which contains the 'princess' poem. Indeed this poem contains the essence of the same distributedness: Not only is it an extremely interesting parallel to my 16-liner but it is even a key to the titles of my full work. Hence her poem contains both the traditional Dante-style Time part (backwards, though, and with somewhat self-negating values) as well as the new poetic space in the references contained in my titles. As such, it meets Celan's work in a reference to my work.

The distributedness in Sachs/Celan relative to e.g. Pound/Dante has a counterpart in my work in terms of the onset of the arbitrarity after the first ten zipped 'cantos', so to speak.

Henrik Wergeland

Even Wergeland 1830 exhibits the form. There is a passage in 'Messiah' which displays similarities with the 'canonical' form at the end of my work on Time. I first run through the opening lines of 'Messiah' before I turn to the 16 lines enumerated:

Jesus:
Is this mankind's memorial,
which ... oh I saw through it, and ...
[bursts into tears]

Messiah:
Still rolls the Earth its peaceful pace:
Spring fresh, still blossoming and new,
appears to scorn
the ages threatening to cover
with wrinkles, rows of graves,
threatening with graying things
but - flying...

Same stars, those stars whose friendly gaze
enticed by earthen flowers forth,
first dew of longing tears for those,
shimmering peace in open flowers down.

Oh happy nature! (so sighs the human)
you hand-in-hand with time, silent,
in the same ring, in your own tracks,
you move around unchanged? -

This can be seen to have the function of the 'bridge' between my 'Endmorgan Quartet' and 'Birds to Saladin', a bridge which can be observed elsewhere as well, such as Pound's last and incomplete Canto CXVII or Petrarca's 366th canzoniere. The first part of his canto down to the 'colonnade' goes down to Wergeland's 'flye'. The remaining maps itself.

After this there follows a characteristic 16-liner on 'the form of time' in Wergeland's version:

1
But -woe - oh earth, of what have you the most: Roses or bloody hands?
....and how the birth and clean repaired him

2
Oh, all the spirits who from you did turn
explicated for me what kind of work or God

3
- yes, as though all your tears and twist
damped away like glowing mist -
Leemon, [n]Atta

4
surround you like pale radiance.
or maybe it is a polygon?

5
Sorrowless thoughts of everyone hover
There's nothing square one

6
(like glints of gulls quick-silverly over
cloudswelling breakers)
please give me the European reason

7
over the brotherhood lineage, which rises
That's Pound!

8
in earth - breaking against it,
to come back and have a look at it.

9
yet larger groans than they themselves had left. - Abiriel-Ohebieler,
It wasn't long that I shamed last

10
they think you are as dead as your own voices[?],
or in pleasure and pain as was before;
and we do have to sacrifice it, in some way or other

11
they see you not through the veil of vision;
The girl in the other phrase I speak to

12
not your warnings, not your woe,
being emotive

13
through the grave of the ear they hear.
John Backwards, the No[r]se

14
Only yourself you can see each other here (?)
are no real gay

15
where soil conceals not, coats no longer hide,
where everyone knows everyone well enough,
but I have got property

16
transparently you meet each other.
those has been made by the matrix

Even the first 16 lines or line elements are consonant with Pound's last incomplete Canto CXVII. The first part of his canto down to the 'colonnade' goes down to Wergeland's 'flye'. The remaining maps itself.

There are reasons to believe that the form of Wergeland's 1830 work can be interpreted in terms of the same scheme as relates Celan's work to mine, in the following sense:

Skabelsen ('Creation'): Wine 2* / Birds to Saladin, Zeitgehöft / Späte Gedichtsammlung
Mennesket ('Man[kind]'): A saga Hume, Schneepart
Messias ('Messiah'): The Endmorgan Quartet (on time), Lichtzwang

However, this is only to scratch the surface of a much more complex matter.

Byron and Shelley

But now it turns out that Wergeland is not the lone poet with a backwards form. Even Shelley has it! It can be found in the beginning of his 'Revolt of islam', which hence supports the hypothesis of a backwards period around the 1820's (which perhaps is only a special case of a more general mirror property of this time-form):

16
So now my summer-task is ended, Mary,
Those has been made by the matrix.

15
and I return to thee, mine own heart's home;
but I have got property.

14
as to this Queen some victor Knight of Faery;
are no real gay,

13
earning bright spoils for her enchanted dome;
John Backwards, the No(r)se,

12
nor thou disdain, that ere my fame become
being emotive.

11
a star among the stars of mortal night,
The girl in the other phrase, I speak to,

10
if it indeed may cleave its natal gloom,
and we do have to sacrifice it, in some way or other.

9
its doubtful promise thus I would unite
with thy beloved name, thou Child of love and light.
It wasn't long that I shamed last,

8
The toil which stole from thee so many an hour
to come back and have a look at it.

7
is ended - and the fruit is at thy feet!
That's Pound

6
No longer where the woods to frame a bower
Please give me the European reason.

5
with interlaced branches mix and meet,
There's nothing square one.

4
or where with sound like many voices sweet,
or maybe it is a polygon?

3
water-falls leap among wild islands green,
Leemon, Atta,

2
which framed for my lone boat a lone retreat
explicated for me what kind of work or God,

1
of moss-grown trees and weeds, shall I be seen:
but beside thee, where still my heart has ever been.
...and how the birth and clean repaired him

But Byron, the counterpoint to Shelley, is not backwards: His 'Don Juan' exhibits clear signs of the 16-liner forwards - see e.g. the end of the 16th Canto, which is the last in that long poem:

1
...should cause more fear than a whole host's identity!
...and how the birth and clean repaired him

2
But still the shade remain'd: the blue eyes glared,
     and rather variably for stony death;
explicated for me what kind of work or God,

3
yet one thing rather good the grave had speared,
     the ghost had a remarkably sweet breath:
Leemon, Atta,

4
A straggling curl show'd he had been fair-hair'd;
     a red lip, with two rows of pearls beneath,
or maybe it is a polygon?

5
gleam'd forth, as through the casement's ivy shroud
There's nothing square one.

6
the moon peep'd, just escaped from a grey cloud.
Please give me the European reason.

7
And Juan, puzzled, but still curious, thrust
     his other arm forth - wonder upon wonder!
That's Pound

8
It press's upon a hard but glowing bust,
     which beat as if there was a warm heart under.
to come back and have a look at it.

9
He found, as people on most trials must,
     that he had made at first a silly blunder,
It wasn't long that I shamed last,

10
and that in his confusion he had caught
and we do have to sacrifice it, in some way or other.

11
only the wall, instead of what he sought.
The girl in the other phrase, I speak to,

12
The ghost, if ghost it were, seem'd a sweet soul
     as ever lurk'd beneath a holy hood:
being emotive.

13
a dimpled chin, a neck of ivory, stole
     forth into something much like flesh and blood;
John Backwards, the No(r)se,

14
back fell the sable frock and dreary cowl,
     and they reveal'd - alas! that e'er they should!
are no real gay,

15
In full, voluptuous, but not o'ergrown bulk,
but I have got property.

16
the phantom of her frolic Grace - Fitz-Fulke!
Those has been made by the matrix.

Line 6: Notice the month and the half-month
Line 7: Pound juzzled = Pound Ezra
Lines 8-16: The rest of the poem, as mapping onto my lines, tell in fact of the 'Veggli lamb' from the 'revelation in history' from Easter 2002. Cp. also Shelley line 8.

This means that one can postulate a mirror structure: Byron is forwards and Shelley is backwards. This corresponds to Wergeland and Welhaven (the name means 'Wohlhabend', cp. 'Pound') in Norway.

'A deep ratch' - Keats, Petrarca, Rilke

The 16-liner is from the end of the Endmorgan Quartet on Time. To show that the phenomenon is more general in my poetry than only these '11th-16-bis-rep' forms and their converses, I can take the end of my book 'A deep ratch' (2000) - the end text in parallel with the ten commandments and the following 12 lines which I wrote on 26 May 2000.

___________________________

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
___________________________

Checklist for this world
and to a bunny.

God, it came to you.

         Hedelund

But I have new resource.
This is an attempt to describe
     (how do I see it?)
official misources open,
will Definite Definity
while she and I will have to go (/)
     into the third, leasing the time,
which are not numbered according to me.

And, in the present war, the conspiracies
     are levels of consciousness,
which thus gave the impression that the whole animal text,
the secret garden,
His Holiness would come:

"I am rather going to slay, and that will cause some action".

Ja. I do. I see.

I have repeatedly referred to this book as being about the 'prepositional category', but I suppose that the traditional grammatical concepts are perhaps not of very lasting value in these respects. Searching for a parallel from the time of Byron and Shelley, I found one in Keats' sonnet which tellingly is called "Written on a Blank Space at the End of Chaucer's Tale of 'The Floure and the Leafe'" (the tale was once ascribed to Chaucer but apparently is no longer so). In the following analysis, lines 1 and 2 are swapped (they are 'freshly interlaced') in my text since 'Hedelund' in my book is the signature to the three lines under line 2.

1
This pleasant tale is like a little copse:
Hedelund

2
The honeyed lines do freshly interlace
Checklist for this world / and to a bunny. / God, it came to you.

3
to keep the reader in so sweet a place,
But I have new resource.

4
so that he here and there full-hearted stops;
This is an attempt to describe (how do I see it?)

5
And oftentimes he feels the dewy drops
official misources open,

6
come cool and suddenly against his face,
will Definite Definity

7
and by the wandering melody may trace
while she and I will have to go (/) into the third, leasing the time,

8
which way the tender-legged linnet hops.
which are not numbered according to me.

9
Oh! what a power has white Simplicity!
And, in the present war, the conspiracies / are levels of consciousness,

10
What mighty power has this gentle story!
which thus gave the impression that the whole animal text,

11
I that for ever feel athirst for glory
the secret garden,

12
could at this moment be content to lie
His Holiness would come:

13
meekly upon the grass, as those whose sobbings
"I am rather going to slay, and that will cause some action".

14
were heard of none beside the mournful robins.
Ja. I do. I see.

The interesting thing which made me stop at this one was the fact that the title specifies that it had been added to constitute the end of a text (probably 14th century). And indeed it makes for a very interesting parallel to the end of my book.

This spurred me to look for the counterpart to Dante, since the 19th century mirror poets expectedly should have counterparts at the time of Dante. It had to be Petrarca, and it was just to look up his last Italian sonnet (Canzoniere #365, the second last of his italian poems about Laura) to find the proof, so convincing that it tells me that the hypothesis is very strong. Here it is in my own tentative translation (a better translation can perhaps be consulted if one finds one, since my Italian does not feel all too self-confident). Notice that the two first lines are not 'freshly intertwined' in this case.

1
I' vo piangendo i miei passati tempi
I am to mourn the past times of my life
Checklist for this world / and to a bunny. / God, it came to you.

2
i quai posi in amar cosa mortale,
those times that offered almost mortal love
Hedelund

3
senza levarmi a volo, abbiend' io l' ale
without me lifted up, although a winged
But I have new resource.

4
per dar forse di me non bassi essempi.
to make (of?) me no lower of examples.
This is an attempt to describe (how do I see it?)

5
Tu che vedi i miei mali indegni ed empi,
You who can see my bad indignity and spinelessness,
official misources open,

6
Re del cielo, invisibile, immortale,
Lord of the heaven, invisible, immortal,
will Definite Definity

7
soccorri a l' alma disviata e frale,
help me - astray in my soul so fragile,
while she and I will have to go (/) into the third, leasing the time,

8
e 'l suo defetto di tua grazia adempi;
its defect with your grace fill up;
which are not numbered according to me.

9
si che, s' io vissi in guerra ed in tempesta,
if so, if I found me in war or storm,
And, in the present war, the conspiracies / are levels of consciousness,

10
mora in pace ed in porto; e se la stanza
I died in peace and in salvation, and the stanza
which thus gave the impression that the whole animal text,

11
fu vana, almen sia la partita onesta.
were all in vain (empty), although in parting honest.
the secret garden,

12
A quel poco di viver che m' avanza
From this - to live (a little) is what remains for me (= 'is what comes to me')
His Holiness would come:

13
ed al morir, degni esser tua man presta:
and die, worthy of being the fast (assistance) of your hand:
"I am rather going to slay, and that will cause some action".

14
tu sai ben che 'n altrui non o speranza.
You know well that another is no hope.
Ja. I do. I see.

Line 2: 'hede-lund' = 'g-rove of heathland' (while 'heathen' = 'hedne', 'hedning')
Line 3: re-soars
Line 4: I am not sure how to translate this
Line 6: this is very precise relative to my line
Line 9: TEMP-esta, cp. time/storm: the conspiracies are levels of consciousness
Line 10: 'mora in porto', cp. the 'impression' in the gates of Geliu Gatve 6 in Vilnius (see 'New revelation in Vilnius').
Line 12: 'A quel poco di viver' could perhaps be about 'the creator'

The conclusion is that both Keats and Petrarca are good examples of parallels to these end lines from my book "A deep ratch". I add an analysis also of the last Orpheus sonnet (part I) of Rilke, sonnet XXVI, which likewise conforms well to the same pattern - including the 'freshly intertwined' lines 1 and 2:

1
Du aber, Göttlicher, du, bis zuletzt noch Ertöner,
Hedelund

2
da ihn der Schwarm der verschmähten Mänaden befiel,
Checklist for this world / and to a bunny. / God, it came to you.

3
hast ihr Geschrei übertönt mit Ordnung, du Schöner,
But I have new resource.

4
aus den Zerstörenden stieg dein erbauendes Spiel.
This is an attempt to describe (how do I see it?)

5
Keine war da, dass sie Haupt dir und Leier zerstör.
official misources open,

6
Wie sie auch rangen und rasten, und alle die scharfen
will Definite Definity

7
Steine, die sie nach deinem Herzen warfen
while she and I will have to go (/) into the third, leasing the time,

8
wurden zu Sanftem an dir und begabt mit Gehör.
which are not numbered according to me.

9
Schliesslich zerschlugen sie dich, von der Rache gehetzt,
And, in the present war, the conspiracies / are levels of consciousness,

10
während dein Klang noch in Löwen und Felsen verweilte
which thus gave the impression that the whole animal text,

11
und in den Bäumen und Vögeln. Dort singst du noch jetzt.
the secret garden,

12
O du verlorener Gott! Du unendliche Spur!
His Holiness would come:

13
Nur weil dich reissend zuletzt die Feindschaft verteilte,
"I am rather going to slay, and that will cause some action".

14
sind wir die Hörenden jetzt und ein Mund der Natur.
Ja. I do. I see.

Some concluding remarks

These are clear examples which are easy to find, and when the end text meets the expectations as well as it does here, then one can conclude that it proves the hypothesis. The present fragment from the end of my book 'A deep ratch' can also be tested against Tarkovskij's "Mirror", the last scenes, after the 'Hedelund' scene with the couple. I suppose it is possible to find a number of parallel works beyond the three mentioned here.

The poetic work of mine is likely to be like this in general, not only these clear end-forms from two of the books which are easy to find correlates to and recognize in other works. Which means that the poetry is to the bone of literary structure - where it meets with principles of poetic cognition. Then the poetry is also lifted out of the text and into a real or virtual reality: It makes the subject and its imagination transparent. If most of the reality is real, the form can allow for the arrival of more or less virtual 'objects' (in some sense of it or other).

This means that the text is situated on what I call the new poetic substance - such as e.g. the work of Sachs and Celan clearly are about.

What this also means is that my poetry is constituted by a sort of poetic fundamentals which cannot be decomposed any further - a sort of 'atoms' which do not allow for further featural analysis without the poetry losing its quality and dropping down to the level of traditional science and Aristotelian logic. This is about a new poetic logic.

What I mean with the term 'revelational' about my own poetry is that it is poetry which attempts to be situated on this new level of poetic substance. The parallels which can be found to other poetic works are not a result of me constructing my work on basis of those, but they are a result of the poetic quality of this poetic substance. Which also means that the parallels tell of a 'revelational' quality in the poetry. This revelational character is where the potential for a technological revolution (information transmission etc) can be found. To the extent that one can assign an ontological value to this poetic substance, it could be that we even can transfer matter through it.