NPPF: CANTO ONE NOTES on behalf of Charles

[Elainemmbell at aol.com]

In a message dated 7/22/2003 10:45:17 AM Eastern Daylight Time, 
jasper at hatguild.org writes:

> "the miracle of a lemniscate
> left.....by nonchalantly deft bicycle tires...."  [line 139 is broken by
> what I would call a caesura  (Elaine - HELP!), the first such in the
> poem](lines 131-139)
> 

This is confusing to me because of the stand-alone line "Bicycle tires." not 
being, apparently, included in the line count.  By my arithmetic these 2 words 
constitute line #139 which would make the 2nd caesura line "A thread of 
subtle pain" become #140.  However, line #143 containing the "clockwork toy" line 
is indeed #143 which makes "Tugged at by playful death..." in fact #140 as the 
printed line numbers say.  So I don't know what's happened here.  Maybe the 
apparent double caesura is a rhythmic referent to the "lemniscate...bicycle 
tires" image, a deliberate double counted as/functioning as one?  or maybe this is 
line #1000 in disguise since "A thread of subtle pain" could end the poem 
just as well as the rather sophomoric reflexive "I was the shadow of the waxwing 
slain."  Absolutely no research or secondary sources have been used to invent 
this probably extremely nonsensical notion.   Blame me alone.
Elaine M.M. Bell, Writer
(860) 523-9225
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