[Michael F]

Bill,

Hate you?!? Never. And certainly, never never never over differences of opinion on poetry.

I don’t claim to be ‘right’. It could well be that i) to paraphrase Scrooge, I read that poem on a day that I lunched on a bad piece of meat; or ii) I simply don’t get it; or iii) most probably, I look for poetry to do something other for me than what Stevens is doing in that poem. I sincerely respect your views and I would love to hear more from you on what you admire in his work – any of it. I'm sure I'd learn something.

In poetic amity,

M

p.s. I perceive the loveliness in the lines you quote -- specifically, the first 9. I'm less enamored of those that follow.