From: Mae Wood (polkadotsf@hotmail.com)
Date: Tue Oct 19 2004 - 22:06:37 BST
Mark:
Well, I have read ZMM so I'd like to try to respond to this. It's an
interesting exercise, and I've practiced it with paintings - writing and
assessing the qualities in paintings. But usually we try to make sure that
the two paintings in comparison are of similar genre. In other words, you
would not necessarily ask which is the better quality: Picasso's Portrait
of Gertrude Stein or DaVinci's Mona Lisa? Too many things differ, too many
artistic intentions are dissimilar in the works. Really can't be clearly
compared. So I'm wondering this about the two poems you present. Are they
similar enough that we could compare Quality? If you presented two Haiku for
instance, would this make the task more revealing of what Pirsig was trying
to demonstrate to his students? Just my thoughts....and hope you don't mind
my posting, as I've not graduated from Lila yet....!
>From: "Mark Steven Heyman" <markheyman@infoproconsulting.com>
>Reply-To: moq_discuss@moq.org
>To: moq_discuss@moq.org
>Subject: MD Poetic Quality
>Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2004 11:36:24 -0700
>
>Hi all,
>
>I love the bit in ZMM where Phaedrus demonstrates to his students
>that they know what Quality is, even if they can't define it. I
>thought it might be fun and instructive to try something similar
>here. So, which of the following poems has the highest quality, and
>why? (Note: I think both of these poems are great, so this is no
>straw man operation here.)
>
> For the Anniversary of My Death
>
> Every year without knowing it I have passed the day
> When the last fires will wave to me
> And the silence will set out
> Tireless traveller
> Like the beam of a lightless star
>
> Then I will no longer
> Find myself in life as in a strange garment
> Surprised at the earth
> And the love of one woman
> And the shamelessness of men
> As today writing after three days of rain
> Hearing the wren sing and the falling cease
> And bowing not knowing to what
>
>
>
> Sad Steps
>
>Groping back to bed after a piss
>I part the thick curtains, and am startled by
>The rapid clouds, the moon's cleanliness.
>
>Four o'clock: wedge-shaped gardens lie
>Under a cavernous, a wind-pierced sky.
>There's something laughable about this,
>
>The way the moon dashes through the clouds that blow
>Loosely as cannon-smoke to stand apart
>(Stone-coloured light sharpening the roofs below)
>
>High and preposterous and separate--
>Lozenge of love! Medallion of art!
>O wolves of memory! Immensements! No,
>
>One shivers slightly, looking up there.
>The hardness and the brightness and the plain
>Far-reaching singleness of that wide stare
>
>Is a reminder of the strength and pain
>Of being young; that it can't come again,
>But is for others undiminished somewhere.
>
>
>
>Thanks for any feedback,
>Mark Steven Heyman (msh)
>--
>InfoPro Consulting - The Professional Information Processors
>Custom Software Solutions for Windows, PDAs, and the Web Since 1983
>Web Site: http://www.infoproconsulting.com
>
>"Thought is only a flash between two long nights, but this flash is
>everything." -- Henri Poincare'
>
>
>
>
>
>
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