Author Information
Vernal Scholia; A Dedication To Some Peers
TriDelta, Cosmicist, Canadian,
FreeVerse, Styled, Bump, and Mathematician:
you call me to release the well clutched past
to meet the future that is First and Last.
Starward
TriDelta, Cosmicist, Canadian,
FreeVerse, Styled, Bump, and Mathematician:
you call me to release the well clutched past
to meet the future that is First and Last.
Starward
Although I don't know the
Although I don't know the full story here, I have to commend you for your superior grace and style. "meet the future that is First and Last": stunning!
Thank you. This was such an
Thank you. This was such an offhand poem that I would not have dared mention it in your presence, and yet you have honored it with a visit and a comment. The backstory is that the poem addresses certain people by old c.b. handles. TriDelta, especially, was quite the anomaly on channel 22: she had a Master's degree in Anthropology. The few times that, having been informed of such by her son who was a friend of mine, I spoke with her, she did not talk down to me (I had not even left for college yet), but treated me with respect and courtesy, and listened to my ideas about poetry (especially the poetry of John Milton) with great patience. I cannot begin to imagine the drivel that must have fallen from my mouth in her hearing, but I never felt intimidated by her background. (At that time, I thought anthropologists dug up fossilized cave-people.)
Starward
I can understand why such
I can understand why such delightful memories would inspire a poem. I'm sure those were some fascinating conversations.
Yes they were, although I
Yes they were, although I blush to remember some of my contributions to them. I often expressed assertions with a confidence that my lack of life-experience, mature courtesy, and of functional knowledge did not support. Wallace Stevens once characterized that as being all imagination and no common sense; and I certainly represented that description to the Nth degree. I am so grateful to TriDelta, and others, who were patiently tolerant of my lack of knowledgeable foundation and recognized it as simply a stage on my way to learning more about life.
Starward
Stevens described half my
Stevens described half my life. Thanks for sharing.
That is one of the things I
That is one of the things I found so charming about him after the Brazeau book came out in 1984: some aspect of Stevens' life or career always seemed to dovetail into my life. During my longest corporate emploment, which ran to nineteen years, I used his filing system for my own collection cases; and on collection arrangements, I followed his directive to his own assistants---"If all things in a case are equal, and a doubt still remains, always resolve that doubt in favor of the customer." When we implimented that across the department, our repeat collection cases decreased in the first year by a shocking 25%. I learned from him how easily you can throw good money after bad, and that not all recovery was good recovery. During the last year of that stint, three other credit unions---one local, and two out of state---implemented my administrative procedures which, in turn, had been implemented from Pop Stevens' business experience at the Hartford.
Starward
Very impressive! They should
Very impressive! They should call that the Stevens Principal.
I failed to acknowledge this
I failed to acknowledge this over a year ago. Please forgive me.
Starward