Re: Self Portrait / a poem by Will Dockery

[Will Dockery]

George J. Dance wrote:
> Will Dockery wrote:
> >
> > > > > Self Portrait
> > > > >
> > > > > I'm an artist,
> > > > > a sculptor,
> > > > > my face is the granite.
> > > > > Watch me
> > > > > see me build myself anew.
> > > > >
> > > > > I see my face
> > > > > crumble and dissolve
> > > > > like idiot solvent.
> > > > > These wrinkled eyes
> > > > > seek out the idiot.
> > > > >
> > > > > I create... myself.
> > > > > From whatever pieces are handy,
> > > > > and I walk---
> > > > > a Golem with words to spare.
> > > > >
> > > > > Like a pigmy--
> > > > > like smoke in the air.
> > > > > Like a reality that does not care.
> > > > > Squint my eyes,
> > > > > stoned in the glare.
> > > > >
> > > > > Covered in patches
> > > > > I'll have a Brandy Alexander.
> > > > > Face like cut granite
> > > > > stand me in some court square.
> > > > >
> > > > > -Will Dockery / 2002
> > > >
> > > > I like this one a lot; too bad it has to be saved for a later book.
> > >
> > > I was just having an idea yesterday, that since the "Earlier Poems"
> > > book will take a long time to get assembled, why not put out a
> > > "Selected Poems", 32 or so of the "Best of Will Dockery", covering the
> > > entire 40+ years of my poetry?
> > >
> > > "Self Portrait" could certainly fit in such a volume, whic you could
> > > selected and edit/publish, if interested.
> > >
> > > I got the idea yesterday when I pulled my Isaac Bashevis Singer
> > > "Collected Short Stories" volume down of the shelf yesterday for a
> > > re-read:
> > >
> > > http://www.thebookasylum.com/shop_image/product/000810_0cc62a2bf9a402c2b18f4f4b3d1b3783.jpg
> > >
> > > That cover design, coloring, font, everything, is perhaps my all-time
> > > favorite book desgn.
> > >
> > > > The writing, especially the opening, reminds me of /The
> > > > Fountainhead/; were you reading that around that time?
> > >
> > > That book, and Ayn Rand, was a big influence on me long before the
> > > Right Wing (wrongly, in my opinion) took that note, more on that
> > > later.
> > >
> > > As you know, Ayn Rand and her artistry/philosophy is a favorite topic
> > > of mine.

As a writer, the liberals tend to dismiss her, but The Fountainhead is a
fine novel, great story and plot.