How I Write My Ravens

Dear Transcendentals & Romantics,
& Colleagues Across the Curriculum
(Courses Without Borders Series)

How I Write My Ravens

If you managed pretty much to follow the twists
and turns, verses and reverses of that monologue
—with Rachel, Jane, & Andy & a bit of Gideon
playing provocateur, spotting my inadequacies,
flipping my claims and challenging my
assumptions—without feeling vertigo
(all that spin): give yourself
“A.”

That’s what IT looks like (and feels) when the
very TERMS in use are the subject matter of the
conversation: distinctions drawn, notions polarized,
and possibly related —loving both sides — the
“logical” and the “illogical,” yes! all my children:
Irene Irrational as welcome as Randy Rational at
my Thanksgiving Dinner, Madeline as well as
Roderick..

Or: if I don’t like one side of my
Great Divide & Grand Division:
I’ll just IGNORE it: or banish to the cellar or attic!
Makes good “logical” & practical sense: I’m trying
to be RATIONAL here, yes? Get something DONE.
I’ll send Irene Irrational packing, damnit: so she
don’t interfere with my plans & planning.

Something like that.

Divide & Polarize and
then RELATE the 2
or
Divide & Polarize &
choose 1 and drive the other into
the desert.


escapegoat

I’m describing THINKING about Thinking here—
as opposed to thinking about chemistry or biology
or sociology or history or literature or psychology
or history or philosophy or smoking tents and
textual harrassment. There’s a DIFFERENCE,
yes?

(Drawing lines in the ampersands.)

This is how I respond to Poe-In-Process--&
Hawthone, too. I Draw Distinctions (heart of thinking).
And then choose to relate the 2 or single-out one and
reject the Other (heart of ethics: valuing; good&evil-ing.)

Of course this is NOT how I ACTUALLY DO IT
when I'm DOING IT, but this is how I talk about
How-I-Do it when I'm looking backwards in retro-
spect and reflecting--true? There's a difference:
how I do stuff and how I talk about how I do stuff:
thinking or playing trombone or writing The Raven.

Of course all this talk about thinking is sloppy and
inadequate. & anyone can improve my terms &
images. I put it in PLAY, is all. I’m not trying to
nail it down for GOOD. Trial & erroring: make
a mess: see what revelations emerge.
Small apocalyptics.

A failure? Of course.
How could I succeed at this?
Much too slippery to catch, but that
don’t mean the chase doesn’t teach me
something.

All representation is inadequate:
a rip-off of the WHOLE and holy, yes?

Need we argue?
xxxooo, E.A. Poe