Saturday, April 26, 2008

"Souls burning in hell,

How exceedingly modest your eternal torments
Appear to me in comparison
To that of a firebombed city."

~Charles Simic, Medieval Miniature

I just got back from a reading by Charles Simic, held downtown at the Chicago Public Library. I am stupid with wonder. Wonderstruck. Frankly gaga. I was sort of hoping for a more intimate venue, but in retrospect, I think the basement auditorium was the right way to go. Every 10 minutes of so, another homeless guy would shuffle in with his bags and take a seat. It seemed fitting, somehow - like a Simic poem: part parody, part tragedy.

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