One Cap and One Period
Two lively, riveting, provocative lectures,
On the Ole Miss campus, this Sunday afternoon,
One alluding to the negative criticism
Faulkner's 1950 Nobel Prize speech initially elicited
From skeptics who couldn't square its optimism
With the cynicism of his early fictions,
The other questioning Benjy's authenticity as an idiot,
Throwing open the possibility
That his voice belongs not to him but to his ventriloquist...
Two stimulating lectures,
Delivered with authoritative respect for the complex nuances
And profound ambiguities of the novelist's prose,
Reminded me, all over, just how brilliant was his torch.
Tonight, I wander about Rowan Oak,
Listening for the scratching of his fountain pen,
The rat-a-tat-tapping of his Underwood portable,
Knowing he's still trying to capture the entire universe,
Between one cap and one period.
07/20/08 - (3)
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