[William A. Baurle]

Aaron,

I liked your article on Invective Against Swans. I confess I didn't understand the poem, but it seems like you've nailed it. I've probably read it a number of times, but my memory of late, both long and short term, is so bad that I'm almost at the point that every time I revisit a book of poetry, it's like a new discovery. If things get any worse, I'll be able to hide my own eggs for Easter (that's a tasteless joke I heard in my travels as a 30 year worker in caring for the elderly).

I've just begun reading something you wrote about Geoffrey Hill. I can't wait to find out what you think of The Orchards of Syon. That's the only book I have of his. I find some of it fairly easy to unpack, but a lot of it really baffling.

You say you've read 74 books in a year. Holy crap! I'm a terribly slow reader. It took me several weeks to get through Moby Dick, and even longer to get through Middlemarch. It took me years to get through Ulysses, because I had to keep starting over. I simply can't read quickly. I won't know what the hell I'm reading if I try and read too fast. I envy people like you. I have enough books in my Kindle library to last me ten lifetimes, but seeing as I've only got the one, I will die desperately unsatisfied. Ah, well.

Anyway, I've bookmarked your blog.