I've been dipping back into Zach Wells'
book Track & Trace, which I bought and browsed when it first came out -- but it's only now,
on further reading, that I appreciate the neat fit of Seth's austere cartoons
(if I can call them that) with the rigorously pent emotions in Zach's poems. As
John Metcalf once wrote to me, talking about Ben Jonson's "On My First
Daughter," "It may be that it is the distance itself which is so
moving."
That's a brief appreciation, as I can hear the baby stirring and the
toddler (who's been at the park with his saintly grandmother) approaching home,
but I hope it will serve your turn. I, too, lament the speed with which
backlist books fall off the publicity radar. For years I've dated the flyleaves
of books according to when I bought the books -- but it's often years before I
really get round to reading them. Better, I think, to record the date (with a
really good book, dates) of reading: the date(s) when the words actually
entered/re-entered your thought and life.
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