A Queen and a Fool
A dialogue
Queen. I'm reading "Aestas".
Do you know who has written this?
Fool. You are wrong. "Aestas" is a work in progress. Walter Daniel is still writing that.
Queen. Who is Walter Daniel?
Fool. A poet and translator, above all.
Queen. What poem does he aim to provide?
Fool. "Aestas" is a long sequence of poems that are built around various semantic layers. (sigh)
Modest whores are sagacious,
So let them read Walter's works;
Idle princesses are salacious,
So let them devour Walter's words.
Queen. How can I contact him?
Fool. Send e-mail to anapaest at gmail dot com.
Queen. What painters does he prefer most?
Fool. Jackson Pollock, Camille Pissarro, Georgia O'Keeffe, Andrew Wyeth, Odilon Redon, Claude Monet, John Atkinson Grimshaw, Alfred Sisley, Joan Milo.
Queen. To what music does he remain loyal?
Fool. Works of Pierre Boulez, Luciano Berio, Morton Feldman, John Cage, Gyorgy Ligeti.
Queen. What literature does he read?
Fool. Works of Rabindranath Tagore, Christian Morgenstern, William Shakespeare, Friedrich Hölderlin, Hermann Broch, William Butler Yeats, Paul Celan, Rainer Maria Rilke . . .
Queen. . . . And?
Fool. Günter Eich, Hermann Hesse, John M. Synge, Pablo Neruda, E. E. Cummings, and Ezra Pound.
Queen. Doesn't Walter Daniel read "Finnegans Wake"?
Fool. He reads it and admires the author. [Aside] Only for her majesty's sake.
Queen. Where does Walter Daniel live?
Fool. Liveable or unbelievable, places to live are peripheral on the Atlantic's rim.
Queen. What do you mean?
Fool. The sun is white, and grass is green.
Queen. Is the sun white?
Fool. If grass is green, wake me at midnight. If the sun is dark, I'll paint it bright.
Queen. Pray for the sun!
Fool. I'm sorry, I'm not your son.
Queen. What did Walter Daniel read for his degrees?
Fool. German literature for undergraduate research, mathematical economics for graduate research, paid excessive fees.
Queen. What subjects are counted as his interest?
Fool. Latin grammar and prosody and versification at no cost.
Queen. What does he recommend?
Fool. Be wise and righteous, so you don't need to pretend.
Money increases everyone's greed,
Greedy traders will end up in jail;
Good education makes us gracious,
Alas, wisdom is but no one's jewel.
Money increases everyone's greed,
Greedy traders will end up in jail;
Good education makes us gracious,
Alas, wisdom is but no one's jewel.
[Exeunt.
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