there are some strange & secret paths in Stubborn Grew. This afternoon I was reading Ariosto again, in the backyard (Cinque Canti) - as when Bluejay dropped in (see p. 22 of Stubborn) & the poem got rolling.

Ariosto left Cinque Canti unfinished, like one of his models (Lucan's Pharsalia), like one of his models, perhaps (the Aeneid)... poems cut short, like the (un)Holy Roman Empire... unfinished long poems...

Rome, Italy, America... Dante, Pound...

like autumn, like Lazarus, like Every-body...