BOOKS
3
so the lessening transformers arrive at the subtl e conditi on
fin e, the spiritual burro braying free, overwhelming
the hairy, and so must we all approach the fin e . ..
155
A shade benea th meta phys ics, fo r the litera ry conno isseur,
Sphere
offers a multitude o f tickli sh little pleas ures. A playful medita tion on
" the on e-man y problem " seen as a n isosceles tri a ng le
(d.
Sh elley, "Th e
One rema ins, the ma n y cha n ge a nd pass") wo rks itself o ut sexua ll y a nd
still more playfull y
(d .
T.
S. Elio t):
If
one can get far enough this way where imagination
and fl esh strive toge ther in shocking splendors, one can
fo rget that sensibility is sometimes dissociated and come:
Shortl y thereafter, a Berrymanish drop:
man hawking order and clarity; but if he would not
be
dark, what a brightness! though I am not enj oy ing the
first day of spring very much, it is not with me as it is
with my fri end George, spending hi s first spring in the grave:
Then a Whitma ny yawp:
windbaggery, snag-gaggling, yakety-ya k, fu ss:
A little la ter, a snipe a t Sn yder :
those so minded who would not prefer
to be out regarding waves: bogus ecs taticus: hocus focus:
For the n a tura list a nd the do -it- yourselfer, the poem includes a season
cycle, birds, bugs a nd a nima ls, a garden , advice on digging a well , on
draining a swamp. For a n yone impa ti ent with the hos tility of human–
ists toward scientists, Ammons's familia rity with technica l fi elds from
mathema tics a nd as tronom y to biophys ics and geo logy, a nd po ints
between , sh ould be as exhil ara ting as a hike above the treeline on a day
flooded with sunlight.
As to fo rma l mas tery,
Sphere
is a wo nder, like dri ving in hig h gea r
nonstop from Atl a ntic to Pacific. T he long -line stanza, in its four–
stanza canto units, the rhythms unfl agging, ho lds, a nd ho lds. T he
