Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Note on Dust and Stow

Written by John, posted by Tracy


The edition of Stow’s poems I have edited -- The Land’s Meaning -- is due from Fremantle Press in a few weeks. I briefly discuss Stow’s poem 'Dust' in the intro, and am writing an essay on that poem in particular at the moment. The key really is found in Arthur Waley's note to his translation of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching, in which he says: 'Dust is the Taoist symbol for noise and fuss of everyday life.’ This is one starting point, as is the dust that lifts of the paddocks around Geraldton with the relentless driving winds so characteristic of that place.

John Kinsella

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