{"id":406,"date":"2020-08-03T12:43:33","date_gmt":"2020-08-03T10:43:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/?p=406"},"modified":"2020-08-16T10:39:35","modified_gmt":"2020-08-16T08:39:35","slug":"on-dover-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/?p=406","title":{"rendered":"On Dover Beach"},"content":{"rendered":"

Albus McInerney edits a literary magazine.<\/em><\/p>\n

In 1928, the Japanese-American artist and poet Lilian May Miller produced a wonderfully gloomy image of Rain Blossoms,<\/em> kimono-clad figures sprouting umbrellas in a sudden squall. The figures are shown crossing a classical wooden bridge beneath willow trees, and the rain falls, in the Edo woodblock tradition, as a series of diagonal black lines. It\u2019s an image mirrored in the haiku:<\/p>\n

A spring squall surprises<\/em><\/p>\n

In an instant, flowers bloom<\/em><\/p>\n

Each its own colour<\/em><\/p>\n

The painting and the poem celebrate a moment glimpsed \u2013 a point that was very succinctly made by Patrice during our latest Zoom conference. He had proposed that we use both on the cover of our next issue, which will be devoted to the spirit of place.<\/p>\n

\u2018You are reading too much into the lines,\u2019 Marianne said. \u2018It\u2019s in the nature of the form to eschew a broader philosophical meaning.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Surely, it\u2019s not about eschewing<\/em> philosophy,\u2019 Dimitri said. \u2018It\u2019s about offering the reader a blank page \u2013 to choose how much or how little they wish to read into the poem!\u2019<\/p>\n

Dimitri would have made the opposite point, I think, if he\u2019d thought it would rile Marianne \u2013 this inclination to tease reflects an increasingly harmonious (I shudder to use the word \u2018amorous\u2019) relationship between two formerly more pointedly adversarial colleagues.<\/p>\n

I like Rain Blossoms<\/em> but for the sheer wonder of atmospheric gloom on a rainy afternoon I prefer Fudo Ritsuzan\u2019s Squall<\/em>. Painted in 1930, it is one of the glories of the Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo. The rain is miasmic rather than linear; in the distance there\u2019s nothing but light, and the sodden serried rooftops have a dull grandeur that is quintessentially Japanese. Unfortunately, there\u2019s just one umbrella in Ritsuzan\u2019s melancholy masterpiece, so the poem\u2019s riot of sudden blossoms is rendered somewhat nugatory.<\/p>\n

Exploring the spirit of place is our response to the present global unpleasantness. We thought a meditation on geographical diversity, on interesting corners of the world, might offer some respite from the sameness of staying indoors.<\/p>\n

\u2018There are different haiku traditions,\u2019 Kim said. \u2018In one tradition, Marianne\u2019s point would be valid. In another, Dimitri would tend to be closer to the accepted convention.\u2019 Then she added, \u2018but that\u2019s as much as I know: Japanese literature isn\u2019t my field.\u2019<\/p>\n

Marianne agreed, rather vehemently. \u2018I know what you mean! If I had a Euro for every time someone assumed I knew all about Rimbaud, I\u2019d be . . . better off than I am.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s the same for us in the Balkans,\u2019 Dimitri said. \u2018People imagine our literary tastes are defined by our place of birth!\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Well, surely they\u2019re defined to some extent by where we choose to live?\u2019 I said. (I live in Madrid and my field of literary investigation is Iberian.)<\/p>\n

\u2018No, no!\u2019 Kim said. \u2018That\u2019s precisely the trap we should avoid falling into! The essence of the poetic sensibility is universal. It\u2019s not about where you\u2019re born or where you live. It\u2019s about \u2013 as Patrice put it \u2013 the moment glimpsed. \u00a0The poet sees with a distinctive eye: the spirit of place is not about portraits but about self<\/em>-portraits.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Like Matthew Arnold on his honeymoon?\u2019 I said, aspiring perhaps to emulate Dimitri\u2019s easy-going and entertaining aptitude for contrary eccentricity. I felt the spirit of place was becoming rather more contentious than anticipated \u2013 though this is not necessarily a bad thing.<\/p>\n

\u2018That was a terrible choice for a wedding night,\u2019 Dimitri said. \u2018I\u2019ve been<\/em> to Dover!\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018The poem\u2019s not about the ferry terminal,\u2019 Kim said, \u2018It\u2019s about the beach.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Well, actually, it\u2019s about the end of belief and the frightening prospect of humanity abandoned to the elements,\u2019 I said, \u2018illustrating rather neatly, I think, your observation about the subjective rather than the objective view.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Which brings us back to the haiku!\u2019 Patrice said. \u2018We are not entirely<\/em> vulnerable: we have umbrellas!\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018. . . we are here as on a darkling plain<\/em>,\u2019<\/p>\n

Marianne said. Marianne has an encyclopaedic memory for gloomy lines.<\/p>\n

\u2018Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,<\/em><\/p>\n

Where ignorant armies clash by night.<\/em>\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Can\u2019t help feeling you\u2019d want more than an umbrella,\u2019 Kim said.<\/p>\n

\u2018Or indeed a slightly lighter mood for seaside bliss,\u2019 Dimitri added.<\/p>\n

\u2018Two poems!\u2019 Patrice said. \u2018Two responses! Two places! It proves my point!\u2019<\/p>\n

And I think it does.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Albus McInerney edits a literary magazine. In 1928, the Japanese-American artist and poet Lilian May Miller produced a wonderfully gloomy image of Rain Blossoms, kimono-clad figures sprouting umbrellas in a sudden squall. The figures are shown crossing a classical wooden bridge beneath willow trees, and the rain falls, in the Edo woodblock tradition, as a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":374,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[66,63,64,62,60,65,61],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/cropped-banner-K1-1.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=406"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":416,"href":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406\/revisions\/416"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sullivan.ba\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}