Imagination, Tidal, Vagrant Poem by gershon hepner

Imagination, tidal, vagrant,
serendipitously roams
through the fragrant to the flagrant,
unpredictably, and foams
like the crest of breaking waves
before they end their ocean ride,
effervescent, as it paves
a hoary mane upon the tide.


Peter Hamill reviews books by Italo Calvino, including 'The Uses of Literature' (Harvest/Harcourt) , in 'What If? ' (La Times Book Review, June 20,1999) . Hamill writes: 'Like most writers he is describing a process that is common to many writers, painters and composers: a mental doodling, a vision of color and form, a humming of a vagrant melody in the mind.'

Hamill quotes Calvino:

I would say that from the moment I start to put black on white, what really matters is the written word, first as an equivalent of the visual image, then as a coherent development of the initial stylistic direction. Finally, the written word little by little comes to dominate the field. From now on it will be the writing that guides the story towards the most felicitous verbal expression, and the visual imagination has no choice but to tag along.


6/21/99