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Wallace Stevens (1879-1955) American poet.

A High-Toned Old Christian Woman

Poetry is the supreme fiction, madame.
Take the moral law and make a nave of it
And from the nave build haunted heaven. Thus,
The conscience is converted into palms,
Like windy citherns hankering for hymns.
We agree in principle. That's clear. But take
The opposing law and make a peristyle,
And from the peristyle project a masque
Beyond the planets. Thus, our bawdiness,
Unpurged by epitaph, indulged at last,
Is equally converted into palms,
Squiggling like saxophones. And palm for palm,
Madame, we are where we began. Allow,
Therefore, that in the planetary scene
Your disaffected flagellants, well-stuffed,
Smacking their muzzy bellies in parade,
Proud of such novelties of the sublime,
Such tink and tank and tunk-a-tunk-tunk,
May, merely may, madame, whip from themselves
A jovial hullabaloo among the spheres.
This will m...

Eric Edelman is a collagist and found-object sculptor. His work has been featured in one-person shows and group exhibitions in museums and private galleries, and.is represented in several private and institutional collections. Edelman's collages and other work have appeared in The New York Review of Books and in the books The Art of the Miniature and Genius in a Bottle, as well as the monograph “Eric Edelman Collages the Unconscious.“ Click HERE for the Art of RetroCollage blog, about art, collage, creativity, and inspiration, featuring Eric Edelman's most recent artwork. Click HERE to subscribe to Art of RetroCollage and receive email updates about new artwork and subscriber offers.