My progress on the first volume of the Collected Poems of Archie Ammons stalled for quite a while when I reached his 1969 poem Essay on Poetics. Odd really, as I assumed that as a longish piece at over 700 lines I was likely to enjoy it as I've enjoyed every one of the longer poems I've read. But that was not to be. Or rather, I would need to get through the maze of the first 100 lines or so and tune in to the peculiar concerns of the poem before feeling reasonably at home with it.
It turned out that once I really got going on the poem I was able to read it in a couple of sittings today, and I think I understood what the poet was exploring - though I'm not convinced that poetry itself is the main concern, despite the title. I suppose a reread is in order, but not for the time being: I need to maintain my forward momentum in the volume as a whole. I'm vaguely targeting completion by the year's end.
I also made some progress today on one of the Connections volumes of New Plays for Young People, this being the one from 2013. It's been on my bookshelf for some time and I've decided not to pick up any kind of novel until I've read the ten plays in it - and another ten from a companion volume I possess.
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