4.23



upturned curve of pine branch against first grey

light in right corner, chorus of birds calling

from plane of field below it

                              woman in dark

green shirt recalling her parents not letting

her leave Beirut to see her boyfriend, locking

herself in her room all day to read Dr. Zhivago



woman in blue V-neck sweater asking "what would

Mrs. Ramsay say," claiming she had been in love

before

        Mr. Tansley thinking "if only he could

be alone in his room," noting that "he was not

going to be made a fool of by women"

                                      silver

circle of sun's reflection in the motionless

grey green plane on the left, bits of white

shells scattered over sand bottom below it







4.24



horizontal grey cloud draped across top of still

dark ridge in left foreground, blue white plane

tilted up above it

                    man in green shirt waking

from dream of coming home to woman with hair

falling across left cheek, two bright pink

abalone shells left on the living room floor



man in black wetsuit looking up at pale yellow

sun rising through trees at top of ridge, a pair

of pelicans circling above grey plane opposite

it

    Mrs. Ramsay recalling one particular day

"become very still and beautiful," wondering

"was everything still the same"

                                 white fog

hanging in front of invisible point, gull

perched on triangular tip of GROIN sign







4.25



blinding silver line of clouds behind backlit

trees at the top of the ridge, tiny pink-white

buds at tips of tobacco plant branches in right

foreground

            man in grey car listening to O'Hara

reading "To the Film Industry in Crisis," who

confesses "I cannot bring myself to prefer

Johnny Weissmuller to Lex Barker"

                                   Picasso once

claiming that Juan Gris died too young, the skew

in whose portraits never had time to work itself

out

     Mrs. Ramsay thinking "how eventful her own

life had been," Mr. Bankes noticing that "people

soon drift apart"

                   triangular white sail moving

to the left across the blue horizon, circular

green pine on the point to the right of it







4.26



triangular white wedge in grey cloud moving

toward upturned curve of pine branch in right 

corner, a pair of finches perched on the feeder 

below it 

           woman in a pink-orange jacket noting 

photo of Diego Rivera above man's left shoulder, 

Hitler claiming if the woman fences for Germany 

he will free her father 

                          woman next to a white 

screen confessing that "anything I hear may go 

into my book," how in Shakespeare "everything 

can mean more than one thing" 

                                Mrs. Ramsay 

"sitting with her little boy," Mr. Bankes 

"drumming his fingers on the table-cloth" 



lines of white water on the flat grey plane, 

whiteness of five gulls gliding across above it







4.27



moonlit grey cloud in lower left pane of window

above the unmade yellow and blue bed, the shape

of tobacco plant leaves in the window beside it



woman in black wetsuit in front of the green car

recalling holding her old dog as the vet puts it

to sleep, body beginning to grow colder in less

than two minutes

                  woman in blue grey corduroy

jacket giving man in maroon sweatshirt a pine

box, wanting him to bury Siamese cat's ashes

next to watsonia

                  Mr. Bankes wondering "is

human life this," noting the best of friendships

"are frail things"

                    shaft of sunlight slanting

to the left from grey cloud above ridge, white

spray blown back from waves breaking below it







4.28



bright yellow goldfinch rising from pine branch

to feeder in lower right foreground, sweptback

wingspan of jet passing across blue white sky

overhead

          woman to the left of yellow tulips

recalling that Plath bit Hughes on left cheek

the first time they met, later burned his mss.



Ashbery explaining that "châlets de nécessite

are rustic comfort stations in France," adding

Aglavaine and Sélysette are characters in a play

he's never read

                 Mrs. Ramsay thinking "French

imposes some order," William Bankes replying

"not at all"

              grey cloud blowing past full

white moon in sky above point, silver line

reflected in the windswept plane below it







4.29



yellow branch of scotch broom against dark green

curve of trees in left corner, grey white plane

of sky tilted above tree-lined canyon of ridge

in back of it

               man in checked jacket arguing

man who wrote Shepherd's Calendar was a city

boy, no evidence Spenser ever planned to work

with sheep

             composer in black jacket who wants

to work in a garden, the card in his back pocket

claiming "Have Trowel Will Travel"

                                    Mr. Tansley

wondering "why did no one ask him his opinion,"

Lily Briscoe "screwing up her Chinese eyes"



grey white clouds towering above dark green

ridge in the left corner, line of horizontal

whiter cloud in pale blue sky above the point







4.30



horizontal line of pink white cloud in oval-

shaped opening of pale blue sky above ridge,

upturned curve of backlit pine in the right

foreground

            woman on phone claiming Baraka

threatened to accompany Cecil Taylor on piano,

phone message simply "Taylor Cecil Cecil Taylor"



woman in black at piano in foreground striking

the second note, woman in white at the piano

behind it whose note rises toward the rust-

colored curve of tree on the wall above it



Mrs. Ramsay's nerves "taut as fiddle strings,"

Mr. Tansley thinking to himself "he was Charles

Tansley"

           grey white plane of sky above ridge,

three pelicans flapping to the right below it







5.1



pink-white rose blossoms hanging across shoulder

of copper vase on table, the angle of the green

tobacco plant leaf slanting to the left behind

it

     short-haired girl thinking about "anchor

points in the composition," arguing that all

parts of the painting are "centers of focus"



André Breton noting Picasso was "one of us,"

Pound claiming that on radio "you can tell who's

talking by the noise they make"

                                  Mrs. Ramsay

"free now to talk for a moment," Mr. Tansley

telling her "how he was thrown out of a boat"



lines of white water moving across flat grey

plane below point in left foreground, sunlit

whiteness of bird circling to the left of it







5.2



shaft of sunlight slanting to the left from grey

white cloud above top of the ridge, rufous-sided

towhee perched on upturned curve of pine branch

in corner

           man in green sweater recalling how

his life was centered on the mail box, Webern

asking how long does work have to be to have

defining structure

                    woman on phone noticing

almost perfect wedge shape of the man's text,

which has to do with grey/gray chop on water



Lily Briscoe thinking "she would move the tree

further toward the middle," Mrs. Ramsay thinking

"there was no future to worry about"

                                      pale blue

sky opening in grey clouds above point in right

foreground, the sunlit green ridge opposite it

//   Advance   //