Yulqen

Of Mere Being - Wallace Stevens

Go read Of Mere Being by Wallace Stevens.

The palm at the end of the mind,

Stevens’ poetry defies explanation and that is an enigmatic and wonderful first line.

For me this poem has such a baking glow: the palm, the gold-feathered bird, the bronze. The palm brings the heat and the desert. And all of it at the “end” of the mind. At a boundary of space and time, when the mind and reason matters no longer, far from meaning.

That’s what poetry can and should be.

Further appreciation and comment

• The Poem