The Daily Glance
Jerome Rothenberg’s Concealments & Caprichos is a book, we are told in the “Pre-Face,” that explores the witness position without using the “I.” Essentially, Rothenberg is witnessing the witness, i.e. taking in someone else’s witness statement and acting as witness in term. In 50 Caprichos, After Goya, he responds/re-imagines images by Goya in an attempt to witness without the “I.” He is witnessing a created response to an event, not the event. In some ways, it feels like a play within a play, so that what he is commenting on is only partially the event since the main commentary is on the witnessing of the event.
A stranger
in dark glasses
near the mother rat
his mind like yours or mine
holds the final secret,
mothers poring over books
or praying
The pieces themselves have individual moments of insight. Oddly, I found the pieces dedicated to other poets the most interesting, especially the one dedicated to Anselm Hollo, and really Los Caprichos by Goya are so fascinating that it’s easy to see why they inspired at least half of this book.
Jerome Rothenberg’s Concealments & Caprichos is a book, we are told in the “Pre-Face,” that explores the witness position without using the “I.” Essentially, Rothenberg is witnessing the witness, i.e. taking in someone else’s witness statement and acting as witness in term. In 50 Caprichos, After Goya, he responds/re-imagines images by Goya in an attempt to witness without the “I.” He is witnessing a created response to an event, not the event. In some ways, it feels like a play within a play, so that what he is commenting on is only partially the event since the main commentary is on the witnessing of the event.
A stranger
in dark glasses
near the mother rat
his mind like yours or mine
holds the final secret,
mothers poring over books
or praying
The pieces themselves have individual moments of insight. Oddly, I found the pieces dedicated to other poets the most interesting, especially the one dedicated to Anselm Hollo, and really Los Caprichos by Goya are so fascinating that it’s easy to see why they inspired at least half of this book.
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