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9 February 2005: My long division of poetry by X poem got an anonymous comment the day I posted it: "ok ... it makes sense ... but what is the compass for? and why did you replace science with an X?" Here is the poem again, and its source poem:
The begin with, the "X" is for "unknown quantity"--and also for "X marks the spot" (and whatever else makes sense to any given aestheriencer). I didn't actually replace "science" with my "X" so much as make a new poem using the "X." All my poems in my "Long Division of Poetry" sequence have the same quotient and dividend. The one with "science" as a divisor remains "Frame 7" of this series. The one with "X" as a divisor may become "Frame 15," I'm not sure yet. Anyway, to continue with my explication of the latter, its "X" times its quotient yield what is supposed to suggest old, crumpled, secrets that come close to making poetry, and do so once the poem's remainder is added to them. The remainder is intend simply to be the four cardinal directions, not a compass, although its being a compass should work. I'm saying that the secrets need direction or a sense of place to become a poem.
Hey, I'm just trying to exploit the scrap of secrets. I hope I'll come up with a better use for it someday. Thanks to whomever for the comment--which got me through yet another entry.
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